


Severed Fate

by meupclose



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, akaashi and bokuto are owl familiars, but its really fucked up what happens to him over and over, enemy necromancer, iwa is forever in love with tooru in every timeline in existence, king!Oikawa, lots of magic battles and spell work, makki and mattsu are Faun mythical creatures, oikawa and iwaizumi have magic, timetravel, tooru is exceptionally brave, toorus magic is really amazing i hope you like it!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-18
Updated: 2017-10-18
Packaged: 2018-11-15 16:34:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 49,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11234913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meupclose/pseuds/meupclose
Summary: Fantasy Creature Prompt: Given {Necromancer, Witches/Warlocks, and Fauns} to work with.This is a soulmate!au where King Oikawa decides to use dark magic to sever his soulmate string with Hajime when he believes that royalty can't possibly be with a Farmer. The backlash on this decision spans lifetimes and causes a timeline disturbance that forces a deity to be involved; sending Tooru through time and into the future he realizes that he cursed himself and Iwa-chan to never to be able to fall in love again. Wanting to correct his cosmic mistake, he comes back to his medieval timeline only to discover an evil presence is causing havoc on the Kingdom that hadn't been there before. Known only as the Shadow Necromancer, Tooru discovers the only way to repair their soulmate string is to find out exactly who the villain is and defeat them.





	1. Prolog

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TottWriter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TottWriter/gifts).



It wasn’t the crown on a King’s head that made him a leader, and it wasn’t the family name that made him loved. It was easy to look at history and declare any King could become a tyrant if they had the power to back them. It was also simple to pick apart their failures as proof they didn’t deserve the title. Especially, over awarding them for larger successes.

King Oikawa felt the crown was always too heavy, and yet he wore it proudly with a smile that made people bow and present him gifts of gratitude. He never once was viewed as a negative leader-- no, The Oikawa’s were all well loved Kings & Queens.

Prince Oikawa Tooru. Crowned on his sixteenth birthday. The coronation was a celebration unlike no other, with a grand sporting competition and jousting tournament. He brought the best out of his people immediately, inspired the town folk to push themselves in positive ways, encouraged progression and invention. They dubbed his time as King as one of everlasting harvest without entirely knowing how he managed to bring fortune to his people.  

The city continued to grow and prosper for years under his rule-- until it was ripe for the taking.

War broke out overnight and without warning, or so the people believed. King Oikawa Tooru had been urged to join with another Kingdom without the people learning of said trade; one that promised to use his skills to better the nation over just his city. He said no with a prideful smile and an immediate rivalry. It would go down in history as the likely cause of his downfall.  

This consequence left a King to watch his Kingdom go up in flames. Caused death to thousands in the span of hours and left Oikawa with barely his life.

Ironically, this wasn’t the obvious conflict of this tale. It wasn’t about war or politics though both motivated. Under the surface of issues; it was about a selfish Tooru. Crowned King, far too young with secrets that tore apart his life when he was a teenager. It surrounded a farmer’s boy named Hajime who was left with his heart cut open and a frayed red string attached to his finger.

This story is about restoring the string Tooru severed in a fit of childish greed-- not just to save Oikawa’s Kingdom, but in resetting the course for their many lives after. This is after all-- about a story of love, and how lost-- it can never entirely be; that soulmates are forever and always eternal.  


	2. The Fall of the Lightning King

“Secure the gate!” a knight ran passed Oikawa so quickly he was almost toppled over. They were keeping him locked up in his castle while his city burned to the ground. It was all his fault; maybe he should have said yes to the Kingdom of Shiratorizawa when they offered to combine. But that was pointless now. War had broken out overnight with the rival lands, and the King knew this had one of two ways of ending.

Fire from outside filled stone walls with thick plumes of smoke, scents of scorched houses and the thunderous slam of rocks ricocheting from above blew out all other sounds. He pressed his palms into his eyes, fingernails just catching along the golden crown nestled against his bangs. It’s complex piece held a solid emerald on the center, the last thing he had of his family before they left him this beautiful city. Everything on his body suddenly felt wrong. The silks too rich, the robe trimmed in rabbit fur too soft against his neck. Had this been worth it? These riches? Wanting this city all to himself just to prove he could do it alone?

“Do not leave this room sire,” came an order from his left as he was moved through the doorway and into the empty room. He paused a moment in shock to being made to do something and turned in time to see the massive wooden door slam shut no matter what he wanted to scream their way. An immense beam dropped to lock it on the other side securing his fate for the moment. It didn’t dampen the noise. People screamed through the window from below and just beyond the wall.

Blue Mountain was the name of his castle. It laid with quartz accents between smoothed cobblestones that wrapped around an impressive hillside. At night, the setting sun would catch along all the gems to make the entire wall shimmer in refracted lights. It had twin-towered peaks high enough to see beyond the mountain range along the north. The square courtyard housed the main shape of the castle, filled with impressive gardens.

The city that surrounded it was called Aoba Johsai. It had seemed lifetimes ago when he was a teenager and was handed it all on a silver platter. Then, he had been certain there was nothing better but to be King.

He moved over to the tall paned window, opening it up to look outside. Cobblestone houses with thick oak beams ran in long rows, usually connected with hustling streets filled with markets and happy people. Now, rubble blocked parts of the streets, overturned wagons with spoiled food scattered dramatically in destruction.

Regret ate away his immediate sadness. There was often points in people’s lives that drastically set a course for their chosen path. It was something his advisor said to him so often as a child he was sure he’d have to come to terms with it. Oikawa comprehended all of them now. Somehow in his young life, three moments would prove to provide a far different story than this one if chosen differently. It was easy, while looking at the disaster below, to wonder what would have been better to choose. Had he screwed up telling that secret? Had he messed up wanting to be King?

“I shouldn’t have given them you...” A disgusting taste stained his tongue. Regret forcing bile up this throat so he’d not be able to ignore it. Tooru had no choice but to fight back when those torturous words spilled past his quivering lips. It would be a risk to expose their family code, but as countless soldiers fell, as outcries of his people met his ears from the high tower, he shrugged the opulently cloak off to pool at his feet and released a shaky exhale.

The Oikawa’s had a secret-- they were born with magic.

Every King could possess this power should they need it but it was a safeguarded mystery. They never wanted to rule under fear. Magic could so easily be used for Tyranny as it had in the past-- as it was proving right now outside. It was rare for anyone to expose they had magic, fear in the unknown motivated secrecy.

Tooru could wield lightning, fly, and move objects with his mind. He had loved it growing up, and vowed he’d use it to protect people over enslaving them.

Only one other human besides his family knew of these powers-- Iwaizumi Hajime, and he was taken away from Oikawa’s life right when the crown placed on his head. No, that was wrong.

Taken, he was not. Oikawa gritted his teeth until the joint popped in tension from the crunch of enamel. Tooru gave him up. Teal light pulsed in his palms. A flicker of magic that sparked as flint to steel, making the hair along his forearms rise on end.

"The King entered and didn’t see us, so rude and self-centered as always,"

"Oya, you notice him though? Look at him Mattsun; you see him getting worked up. He’s gonna do something rash,"

Tooru turned to see that he hadn't been alone at all in the vast space. In the corner of the storage room, sitting on creaky wooden stools with their goat legs propped up upon a crate were two very annoying Fauns. Both he knew very well.

"How?! How did you get into my damn castle again!?" he barely contained the snarl. The couple was misfits and troublemakers, and no matter what he threatened they never took him seriously. That was likely because they knew deep down they were some of his only real companions not that the King would ever admit such a thing.

"You have _goats_ to be kidding me," Matsukawa snorted out, laying a card on the table for Hanamaki to see.

"Well-- here we _goat_ again," was the response, doe-like eyes batted towards Tooru in a tease of not taking any of this seriously. Pink strands of hair remained out of his face, knotted and intertwined with daisies. Two curled horns in a light tan protruded and swept backward from the thick mop of hair. Tooru never had, in all his life, knew Fauns as annoying as these two. Their coats of hair matched in a light gray and dark muddy brown mix. They spent their time continuously making goat puns and jokes without ever appearing solemn when they ran into the Grand King.

"I will fix this!" Mattsun shouted in a shrill of a voice to mock the King's, standing up with a clack of hooves to old woods to go pick up Tooru's cloak. The Faun were quite massive in size in comparison to even him, forcing the King to peer up as the cloak was rested upon his shoulders-- spinning around while Mattsun clapped happily at his dance. Hanamaki pulled out a flute to aid said movement. Song and hooves striking the boarded floors filled the space with the happiness he couldn’t mentally comprehend happening.

At that moment of inappropriate celebration, a rock slammed into the outside wall of the room. The tremor sent them all to the ground, Tooru’s left side of his face struck mightily to the wood. Making the world hum in a white noise as blood dripped down his head. Tooru noticed that both Faun were positioned over him as debris and rock further fell on top of them. They likely saved his life in this moment of time. He coughed at the dust, opening and closing his jaw to bring his ears to pop and hopefully stop ringing.

"We **goat** owned!" Makki groaned as they leg pressed the stone piece up and off them all, but it sent the two into a fit of laughter. Tooru scurried away from the two and slammed his fist on his thigh, sitting up enough to better dust himself off.

“I will fix this,” he said with a glare out the broken window, standing quickly with a fast paced run towards the sill.

"SEE! He said it! Just as predicted, hahaha!" The two cackled into a fit of laughter and resumed their seats near the busted table to keep playing cards that were bent and mostly scattered on the ground.

"When you come back, we will help you find what you are looking for," they shouted his way without looking towards his exit. He had no idea what they were talking about, but he didn’t ask, and instead flew out without another word, landing just above the gate the army below was attempting to break down. The King floated above the wall-- better seeing the ruin of the city. It seemed time had stopped then; every person nearby looked skyward in awe and fear for the first time towards King Oikawa. He exhaled, flashes of his terrible decisions reflected against his conscious.

“This is my city,” he commanded his magic, clapping his hands together to make static energy affect the clouds immediately. They twirled and thundered in an angry collision, lightening flashed hot and bright against the quickly darkening sky. Their King’s form glowed like a star; teal light encased every inch of him. Lightning formed in his hand in the shape of a ball, pulling his fingers apart as the bolts jumped between all the lean digits of his hands. He set himself to attack, sliding his foot back and raising his hand. With a toss, he struck it with the other palm causing the object to fire down on the army below. The explosion was mighty; bodies flew into the air, screams changed from the cries of battle to a quick retreat as they ran from the rippling earth chasing their heels like a tidal wave of debris.

“LEAVE!!” Tooru screamed. He launched serve after serve, lightning arced violently between the enemy; catching their metal armor to jolt them into unconsciousness if they weren’t fast enough to flee. As he balled his anger and launched his attacks unrelenting on the Main Street, flashes of light struck the clouds, making the world appear blue. Time seemed to fall into chaos while his knight's fought back. Chasing down who they could while avoiding the direct lightning strikes from their King.

Angry tears threatened to touch his cheekbones as he watched people die below, witnessed houses crumble and further catch flame. The press of soldiers continued to break down the gate to his castle. He had brought his Kingdom to this-- fool. The electricity began to burn his skin, running fine cracks against the flesh. Peaks of teal light spilled through like he was a vase about to shatter and break.

“Leave my people alone!” He shouted.

Oikawa fought all night.   

When morning came, everything was quiet. Birds chirped to the rising sun, and it fueled the illusion that it had all been a terrible dream. King Oikawa was deposited upon the cobblestone, having fallen from the sky in exhaustion and laid crumbled, bones broken and likely bleeding out. He blinked, trying to keep the sky above him in clear view, but pain shot through his body when armored hands grabbed his shirt and dragged him down the street. People were crying for help, weeping for someone to save them. He could hear them shouting his name in fear for their lives should the Grand King Oikawa fall.

This war would be the moment they would remember. All the advantage of virtue had only brought the wrong-- brought an enemy far too mighty for him to handle.

When his eyes fluttered open; he was in the main hall of his castle, unable to move and barely conscious. The knight removed his helmet, and something inside of him screamed.

“Hajime,” he whispered, “no... it’s not you.” He forced himself to blink again, over and over as if it would remove the image before him.

“It’s not,” Tooru looked again when the voice met his ears wrong and saw the face of Hajime melt away revealing the real enemy King Ushijima. Had he wanted to see his lost lovers face so badly? Regret at separating filled him in his last moments. Would he die today and never speak to him again?

“You lost-- this Kingdom is mine now.”

Tooru coughed, finding his eyes close against his will.

“You would have won if you had realized what you had,” The Great Eagle, as they called him, didn’t even smile when he spoke. He seemed disappointed and sullen. “You should have accepted our invitation over thinking this city was worth your ruling. Now you will die, it’s a waste.”

“Where is Hajime?” Tooru barely got out, feeling his life dwindling.

“Long dead,” The Great Eagle sighed when he said this, facing the fireplace and his back to Tooru.

Oikawa wanted to wail. Struggling to stay awake. But then a memory struck him as a vision. He remembered Hajime had been fighting against those guards years ago, eyes wide with a snarl making his lips curl in anger. Tooru had been standing there sixteen with a crown on his head and his arms carefully folded against his chest of golden-threaded clothes. He had told Hajime’s secret to King Ushijima in a trade to keep his Kingdom. The betrayal was evident immediately, and Tooru had nightmares about it being the last moment ever. But as that memory plagued him often since he was young-- he remembered something else right now.

Hajime had shouted something to the wind while they struck his ribs to keep him from struggling his arrest.

_'I will always hold hope for you. Don’t forget it. Any time! Anywhere! Any life! I will love you. Let that be your constant.'_

Oh. Tooru lifted his hand with a grind of broken bones and delicate fingers to see the frayed red string attached to his finger. No one would ever believe him that he could see such a thing-- but he hadn’t been the only one too. Hajime’s secret thundered in his head. Why had he told his secret? Why had he been so childish and rash? Why did he let them take him away?

The string glowed subtly in golden specks, pulling from the magic he had left after the fight. The object was telling him exactly what he already knew. That severing this had ruined everything.

 ‘Any life’ Hajime had said. An idea formed.

“Gods, Grant me a final chance to right this wrong. To free the torment of my people-- to prove--” the words spilled past his lips, choking on blood that coughed and dribbled out his mouth. It made him gasp violently; his spine arched off the stone to get a better breath.

“Stop him!” met his ears but he kept chanting the spell, teal light surrounded him once again. Illuminating under his body like a bed of fireflies; he lifted his fingers to move the light into a rune above.

“--to prove I am capable of saving my Kingdom. To save him; claim my life, grant me time. I will fix this for them...not for me. I swear it.”

The red string long frayed for years formed again in golden light, faint and seemingly disappearing into the unknown. The teal light started to blow out Tooru's sight while it grappled his soul, tearing it from the vessel of his dead body. Oikawa could see himself departed below while the guards shook him. Only a second had passed before he was whisked away into utter darkness.

* * *

 

Sounds came first. Muffled voices, many of them surrounding Tooru's immediate side.

“Shit, he’s bleeding terrible from his ear,” the voice was mellow for saying such terrible things, and Tooru could have sworn he knew who it was. Hands were shaking him now, trying to bring his eyes to open but everything hurt in a blaring pain to the back of his head.

“Haji--”

“Shittykawa, thank god he talked. Can you hear me, idiot? Don’t move--”

Confusion knit his brow at the nickname, but it was evident it was Hajime’s voice. He didn’t think he’d ever heard it again so soon. Did the spell work? Did he rewind time? He cracked his eyes, the face looming over him blurred in and out of focus until it clearly showed him Iwaizumi whose angry eyebrows were knitted deeply into a scowl.

“You are going to get wrinkles at such a young age--” Tooru whispered, but the second he spoke something was clearly off. Faces blurred into a sort of distorted focus; something was in both his eyes sitting over his iris’ that he felt he needed to get out immediately. What was this? He blinked, and the objects settled back into place as if they belonged there. The other people muttered between themselves while he stared up at them. Where did they all come from? Never had so many been around him before and there were no memories of this type of event happening. The young appearing boys were all wearing strange shirts with symbols on them, pops of teal and white adorned their shoulders and shorts.

He blinked quite stupidly again, not that King Tooru would ever admit to ever appearing stupid-- but this was strange. The pain became evident to his skull, throbbing hotly in the same place he had struck his head in the castle. He lifted trembling fingers to his ear where a trail of blood slipped down onto his neck, but that was all that hurt-- all the other wounds, the magic fracturing apart his body was all healed or gone. Tooru sat straight up, thrusting his palm to the glossy floors and stretched upward. A screech of concerns from all of them echoed in the space, drawing his attention to the oddity of it.

His pupils dilated at the sight of the room, massive with shiny wooden floors and strange lights coming from the ceiling. A net between two poles resided in the center with various balls laid all over the place. Everything threatened to fall into a spin, causing him to wince when his head turned a bit too much in a circle.

“Captain?”

“Only he could fall so obnoxiously and hurt himself so bad--”

“I’ve never seen him so quiet before? Should we be worried? Is it not like with his knee and ankle right? Like-- he will be okay?”

“Iwaizumi-san grab him before--”

He started marching right out the closest door. Staggering until the sun struck his face. A firm grip caught his wrist to pause him.

“Oy! Stop it! You are really hurt,” Iwaizumi demanded out pressing a towel to the side of his head. Tooru smiled wildly in perfected false reassurance, limping outside to see what he believed was true.

“It sent me into the future?” He whispered, shock settled as goosebumps across his skin-- the buildings were unlike anything he’s seen before. Tall, silver with beams and glass windows that were designed in ways he couldn’t comprehend right now. He observed the name of the place was the same as his city, embossed proudly against the largest building on a sign. Oikawa slipped his hands to the curvature of his face, feeling it by memory to prove he was still handsome and himself. He swept through his hair to feel it damp in sweat and a little blood. He was wearing the same material as the others making him wonder if they were a part of something together. His heart hammered, equal parts excited he had managed such a spell and scared he had likely hijacked another life from himself.

How confusing and rude-- and yet so like him.

“Hey,” Iwaizumi was standing right in front of him, worry prominently etched on his frowning face. The sight of him inches away was overwhelming, and Tooru stood stunned. Hajime held a towel to Tooru’s head with a sharp bend of his arm from the height difference. It was-- dare he say cute, but such a happy word couldn’t make it out as he was overwhelmed into complete silence.

“You are not okay, bleeding out of your left ear-- walloped your fat head enough to knock you out when you fucking fell off the stands making that stupid ass speech.”

The words were half grumbled out, the tension from the stress making the tendons of Iwa’s neck and jaw twitch. Tooru leaned forward instinctively, cupping the sharp edge of his lost lover’s face. A tremble met his fingertips. He was touching his skin again-- and how alike they appeared! It was confusing and beautiful all the same. For once he didn’t care where he was-- he just wanted to burn the image of his lost soulmate into his mind for all eternity.

Caught up at the moment he began leaning forward on his own, lips tilting down-- needing a kiss desperately.

A firm hand pressed into his chest and forced him back just enough to keep them from connecting. Tooru wanted to whine instantly, but Iwa’s amused scowl told him a lot.

“You are really out of it,” Iwa was blushing faintly, but he seemed to be less concerned about Oikawa wanting to kiss him and more about his physical state. Were they not together in this life either? Did Tooru indeed ruin everything that day he pushed him away? Did it extend for all eternity? Damned his kingdom. Damned their love. Damned them ever finding one another?

Blended memories confused him the longer he stared forward, seeing flickers of their childhood together, and a long list of stuff he didn’t understand about this world seemed to fill in blanks of a double life. He had to ground himself, this wasn’t a place he was staying-- or so he assumed.

“Take me home,” he attempted to order in his King's voice, mustering the proper inflection to his tone to sound indifferent to his situation. He had his chin lifted proudly and maintained eye contact without a waiver of weakness-- he hoped. Hajime didn’t move for a solid second. Frowning firmly, before he rolled his eyes.

“Iwaizumi, he needs to see a doctor,” someone behind them had said this, but Tooru didn’t turn to see who thought they sounded familiar. Iwa still had his hand pressed to his chest and head, yet they slid down the moment he noticed the other person and grabbed his one arm a little too rough to drag him towards a different building.

“I will be sure he sees one, clean up and lock up. Report to coach what happened,” Iwaizumi ordered, and Tooru was too enthralled with this entire moment to realize how strange his next statement would sound.

“Hajime, you have to come back with me,” he leaned his head on his shoulder, feeling dizzy and tired. He wished he could take him back-- but no matter that this was Hajime, it was not his. Iwa wrapped his arm around his back and under his ribs to be sure he didn’t fall over. He could feel the power in Iwa’s hold, the muscles of his biceps making him want to daydream of better days. Why did the spell send him here? The future couldn’t help the past, could it?

“Don’t call me that so casually, and where idiot?” he peered up at Iwaizumi’s words.

“Call you Hajime? That’s your name,” Tooru genuinely responded.

“Well, I said don’t use it like that. I hate that you call me Iwa-chan, but it’s hell of a lot better than hearing my name-- we're not grade school kids anymore. Show some respect for once,”

Confusion had Tooru looking like a kicked puppy for a few seconds--  not that he noticed.

“Do you call me Tooru?”

“What?” Iwa paused. Was he blushing again? Was it weird to use their names here? “Stop it, Idiot. I do when we’re in private-- I am seriously worried now--”

“You were always worried about me,” he said fondly, though a hint of sadness made it’s way past his defenses.

“Were? You ARE a pain in my ass,” Tooru frowned slightly but allowed Hajime to lead him to a room where a lady cleaned him up. He should be scared of all the technology, and the place was daunting and set his nerves aflame. It was impossible though to be truly frightened with having his soulmate by his side again. Or, who was supposed to be his soulmate. While the lady checked his head, he stared at Hajime’s finger where a frayed red string tied. All that connected them was a faint golden line as if to prove they weren’t entirely together here but connected because he had invaded it.

“I am taking you home, hop up-- I don’t want you walking anymore,” Hajime had his back to him, and it sent Tooru into memory by a pond when they first met. Hajime had caught an impressive beetle and Tooru had to admit pride looked amazing on even a young Hajime. Had he hijacked this Tooru’s body and mind because that isn’t a memory he ever had before. Would he leave an echo of his medieval life as King with this Tooru when-- if he's gone? He carefully walked forward, draping his long arms over Hajime’s shoulders and let Iwa’s strong hands grip under his hamstrings to pull him up. He set his head on his shoulder, peering out at the new world passing.

A million words flew through his head. He wanted to say something smart about Hajime being as tough as a bull, having personally witness Hajime out pull an actual mule while on his farm. But he was attacked by his scent-- the same after who knows how many years into the future he had landed.

The streets were black, paved in something to make them appear smashed with billions of tiny pebbles. The mountains were still there, covered in green from the various treetops blocking the rocky earth beneath. People were talking to themselves, or through devices held up to their ears, and if it all wasn’t so weird. These fast objects flew down the street. Made of metal and a roaring sound that reminded him of when certain potions bubbled over in a cauldron. Not that he practiced potions often-- but his mother had been quite amazing at it

“You’d never agree to this so casually,” Hajime commented when Tooru was far too quiet, “not without treating me like I was a horse or something equally insulting. Do I need to take you to the hospital?”

“The what? No, I’m just not...or well...” he mumbled embarrassingly, gripping Hajime tighter. “I never thought I’d see you again.”

“You are scaring me...I’m right here, and nothing happened to me or us. You are the one who got hurt and are now acting weird,” Hajime’s grip along his hamstrings tightened. “You need rest, and you are staying at my house. I am making you a bath, and dinner and you will eat every piece of it. Then you are sleeping through tomorrow-- we can skip school.”

The barrage of demands struck Tooru shocked into silence. Hajime was the same. At least, personality wise he seemed exactly like his Hajime back home. Nostalgia filled the sad void of worry he was having over the world around him, and he smiled against the fabric of his shoulder.

“Okay--” he conceded, melting into Iwaizumi. But in the back of his mind, one thing continued to whisper. You ruined this; you don’t belong here.

Tooru had not expected this to be complicated. The spell had backfired horribly, though he supposes when asking for the God’s help involving fate and offering them his life as payment-- provided an opportunity to go astray. He was nervous to touch anything without seeing Hajime feel it at least once. The little switches on the walls-- turned on lights, like magic-- which is what he had said before Hajime said.  

“It’s electricity? Please get into the bath Lord-- be sure to take out your contacts. Your glasses are on the counter so you can see when you get out,”

His type of magic was trapped in the walls? _Scary_.

The bathroom had been something from a dream. The water perfectly warm and the soaps sweet scenting. There was a part of Oikawa that wanted to make demands back at the castle to invent such things immediately because he wished to bathe like this forever. He had peeled these horrible squishy things from his eyes which he assumed were said contacts. He sat there for awhile. Alone as the scents of food wafted up the stairs. The pain of what happened with his actual life caught up with him.

He died. His soul was here and not there-- what was going to happen if he returned? What if he didn’t? Was the other Tooru okay?

There were too many possibilities and only one thing he cared about-- Hajime in this life was alive.

Having bathed for far too long to the point his fingertips became wrinkly, Iwaizumi had to physically drag him out of the bath, wrapping a fluffy towel around him and put his glasses on his nose before shoving him into a room that smelled like Iwaizumi. He stood in the doorway, mapping out every detail of the small space. Of course, he was in a room this tiny-- it was a mess in that used way. Clothes were on the floor, various heights of water resided in two or three cups around the tables nestled close to his bed. The walls held made of paper, but they decorated pinned with what he assumed was Iwa’s favorite things.

He moved into the room and started looking around, touching odd paintings of his many friends. One was with him, and Iwa was laying on duck shaped objects in a body of water with their thumbs up. They looked happy.

“This is yours from last time if you want to wear it or grab one of my t-shirts from that bin. I just washed those,”

“What is it?” Tooru asked staring at the shirt painted with a hideous design he didn't understand.

“Huh? I don’t know, from that show you like, I think,” Hajime glanced at the t-shirt not entirely sure of the correct answer. “You can borrow some boxers to sleep in. We can get more clothes tomorrow.”

Tooru settled on a robe, for now, tying it around his waist to keep himself decent while they ate a large meal of mackerel and rice.

“Drink up,” the tea had honey in it, and the scent had him leaning back against the wall with a pleased hum while they made it back to Iwaizumi’s room.

“Hajime-- Iwa-chan,” he corrected quickly, sighed at the nickname. “Do you hate me?”

Iwa startled out of his head, shaking it quickly while he stood up and started tossing clothes off the floor and into a different basket. “What the hell, I have known you forever. I don’t think it’s possible for me too.”

“Does that mean you love me?” Tooru watched the blush hit the back of his neck first, and spill below the collar of his shirt. It was presumptuous to ask but that memory of Hajime saying he’d always love him was still fresh on his mind. Could it be that it was still there even with their bond severed? Even across time?

“I guess--” came the response through gritted teeth as if such an admittance was extremely difficult to answer honestly. “Don’t you get enough from the world to confirm you are loved? Everyone cares about you, and your bag had three letters in it when I grabbed it by the way.”

“Letters for me?” Tooru sipped the tea while he reached into his bag to see said messages. The handwriting was neat and in perfect lines, scented parchment, but with no wax seal annoyingly noticed.

“Oh…” he hummed while he read them best he could. “Do I get these often? How sweet, they have no idea do they.”

“Yes?” Iwaizumi was tugging on a bed of some kind from the closet, peering over his shoulder looking positively perplexed. “No idea about what?”

“I mean they are nice, and all, but I am certainly not falling in love with girls who write letters like this. Especially since--”

“What?” Iwaizumi interrupted. “You get them all the time and always treat them surprisingly well even when you have to turn them down.”

Tooru realized that he might have royally fucked up the life of this Tooru’s if Iwa didn't know he didn’t just like women. If wasn’t even that piece which was important; his soulmate was two steps away, and all these letters were sweet in gesture but completely worthless in the sense of the infinite love they should have had.

He took a second to root through distant memories of this world's Tooru. They were already attempting to blend with his own as if they had always been the same person. Most of them were of Iwa, unsurprisingly-- and others filled with a ball and net of some kind. The things he saw in the ‘Gym’ as Iwa had called it. Crowds of fans, school, and family made up many other memories, a gaggle of girls as well. He smiled fondly. Thankful they didn’t have a dangerous life here, so different from his own which involved treaties, wars, and ruling a kingdom.

“Oy-- stop daydreaming, what were you talking about? What don’t they know?”

“Since well--” Tooru laughed a little nervously. “Did I never tell you I might like guys too Iwa-chan? I guess men don’t tend to write notes though--” Tooru settled towards the bed to put away the letters, hoping the question would provide some answers.

“You have had a few girlfriends-- so I never asked. Why didn’t you say anything? I’m sure some would write you if they knew,” Iwa didn’t seem disturbed if anything his pupils were dilated and locked on the side of his face. He could feel the stare down resonate down to his core. This Hajime didn’t know of his touch, of what it felt like to kiss or sleep together until the sun set again. Did he miss him so much that even his eyes on him made his soul ache? It was selfish; he was selfish.

“I am not sure,” Oikawa settled on responding, lifting his eyes to meet Iwa’s. “What about you? Anything you want to admit? You realized you loved me already--” He added a playful tone to his voice, waving his hand lightly between them before tucking it under his chin to bat his eyelashes.

“Welp-- nope. Not doing this with you, just because you are sharing doesn’t mean you are roping me into it tonight,” Iwa marched into the closet again and pulled out various sleep items. A stuffed creature which was bright green with huge round eyes and a scary smile tossed into his lap. He glared at it, not sure if this was some mystical object wanting to give him nightmares or something equally disturbing. Was he expected to sleep with it? Nope. He threw it towards the basket of clothes.  

Iwa had wrapped his hand behind his neck, and it was a gesture Tooru knew so well it distressed him. Nervousness meant he was in his head which said he could ask more questions before he got mad and really closed off.

“Iwa-chan, do you believe in soulmates?” He interrupted, standing up to sit on the made bed for him on the floor. It was surprisingly soft and the comforter fresh scenting as if it had dried outside.

“Sure?”

“That wasn’t convincing at all,”

Iwa rolled his eyes, plopping next to him onto his back. His head was dangerously close to his knees, and Tooru really wanted to pet his hair and touch his nose, lip.

“I do actually, it’s just embarrassing to talk about,” Iwa finally admitted, stretching out his arms above his head and Tooru’s heart beat up to this throat at the expansive view of triceps.

“What if you and I are soulmates?” Tooru lowered his voice, just enough to make it come out genuine and without the typical malice he could add to his inflection. Iwa glanced up. Thinking again, if the soft wrinkle to his brow exposed. It was quiet for a few minutes until he spoke up.

“I’d not be surprised if I am honest, but you have never talked about this stuff before you hit your head. I didn’t even know you liked guys? I can’t believe you just spewed that just now. Did you have an epiphany today? Did the Great King’s fall from his pedestal finally awaken the real Oikawa? I might be happy for you if you didn’t worry me,” Iwa was smirking as if this was an inside joke and he meant to tease him, but it struck so close to home that Tooru lowered his eyes away. He wasn’t the real Oikawa-- he was the one who ruined everything.

“I think it did,” he admitted sadly. Iwa sat up suddenly, their faces close enough to feel his breath ghost along with his skin. Tooru continued his thought. “I won’t be here long; I will miss you so much...”

“Whoa, stop. What does that even mean?” Iwaizumi frowned, concerned.

“What if I died and you never kissed me?” Tooru whispered, his voice was wavering slightly. Thinking back to times that had been so good they felt like a distant dream. “I'm sorry, this is probably sudden just. What if I ruined everything and I can’t fix it? For all eternity-- I ruined…us.”

“What the hell,” Hajime answered panicked. “You aren’t going to die, don’t ever say shit like that.”

“Hajime, everyone dies--”

“Ok! But--” Tooru winced at the frustration and the wide-eyed fear consuming his soulmate's face. Hajime lifted his hand on the side of Tooru’s head, resting carefully near the bandage on his left ear. An internal struggle took place as if he had more to say than he would. “But you aren’t right now or anytime soon alright, so stop it.”

Tooru could swear he felt a burst of hot air come from Hajime’s nose in anger and he chuckled sweetly to it. The words were a command, a promise-- so much weight in something so utterly out of their control that he couldn't have expected anything less from his best friend and lost love.

“You brute, you didn’t answer my question,”

“To kiss you?” Iwa asked, breathless and they were still close enough to make it so incredibly easy too. Dizziness struck Oikawa like a summer heat. Iwa turned to meet his eye, and Tooru curled his hands into fists to resist grabbing his face.

“Would you? Since I asked?”

“Maybe,”

A pregnant pause filled the space between them instead of said kiss. It was oddly electric and incredibly nostalgic for Oikawa.

“I feel like we’ve had this conversation before, like some deja vu shit just happened,” Iwaizumi pulled away, resting his palm on his cheek and elbow upon his raised knee without giving said kiss.

Oikawa worried his lip with a slight blush streaking his cheeks. Shit. This was dangerous and risked him slipping into his old selfish self. He shouldn’t blend these realities, especially if he did leave this body and go back to his time. Was that where the expression deja vu came from? Could the Iwaizumi here possess old memories and lives like the repeated one they had just shared now?

Oikawa smiled thinking back. He couldn’t ever forget the day he had challenged Hajime to kiss him in his world. Covered in mud, a frog caught along with a jar of the most beautiful pebbles that had cracks of teal blue through them. Though, Iwaizumi hadn’t kissed him then either. Having left him hanging by a thread and desperately wanting him too while Hajime went back to work the farm. Tooru’s entire body had ached for days and would get hot while that one word had plagued him. --Maybe.

“I’m tired,” he said suddenly. “Perhaps  I did hit my head too hard.” Iwa quickly moved up and helped him tuck in.

“Ok-- I’m going to check on you through the night though. And I meant it; we are staying home tomorrow. Already talked to auntie and my mom okay?”

“Ok, Hajime,” he yawned. Before he could realize it, he was asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Iwa walking back into the closet when denying admitting anything had me lolling. Let me know what you think so far! I am gunning for a 30K fic here so hopefully the balance of time will be perfect over rushed or drawn out. <3 Cas


	3. Perspective Shifts as Quickly as a Storm

 

Morning came with an intense rush of memories. All night Tooru had dreamed of this life, to the point when his eyes finally cracked open he was sure that he understood more than he should about the relationships long established before his arrival. There was a niggling feeling worrying the back of his conscious as he laid still on his bed, legs sprawled out and his arms tucked above and under his pillow. He had hijacked this Tooru’s spot entirely, and he believed now with a night's rest it was because they were one of the same. A soul brought to life in another time wouldn’t allow for the duplication. Because in a sense he was this Tooru as much as it was the other way around. 

There was a piece of him that felt guilt over it, but it was a strange feeling to allow himself to feel any emotion this strongly again. All those years as King had given him the perfect landscape to be selfish. There were servants to help him get dressed, and make him clothes. He’d give speeches and watch people pull from his inspiring tone and take his city to greater lengths than any other. It was ego filling he realized-- he had undoubtedly set himself up and how glorious it had crumbled without his foundation solid beneath his feet. 

He chanced a glance towards the bed were Iwaizumi was on his stomach, hand draped over the edge, fingertips brushing the side of the futon. Tooru didn’t move for fear of waking him, instead took a better view of the Hajime before him and what was so clearly different yet blaring the same visually. His hair was short, with surprisingly soft spikes in messy bedhead. They didn’t appear to be stuck in that position but merely squashed up against the fabric of the pillow and would likely fall back into a normal look when he rose his head. 

His eyes had been greener than the grasses on their favorite hillside back home. He remembers the intensity of them when he finally looked at his face yesterday and had wanted to kiss him. That was a little different from his own Hajime whose eyes were green but never contained such intensity in them. It was as if all of Iwa’s expressions here were sharper, more defined, and held a spark of anger that Tooru only remembers seeing on the day he betrayed him in his timeline.

A whine caught in his throat instantly and he closed his eyes so tight that deep wrinkles formed in crows feet and cavernous lines across his forehead. A deep ache struck his chest like a boulder had collided with it from above the bed. 

“Please don’t--” He had never allowed himself to cry about losing him. It had always hurt, made his body shake and gave him nightmares but never had he let the grief of loss settle. Being here next to Hajime again was already challenging those barriers, all those small walls he placed up to be sure that he stayed focused on being King because that had been all he cared about at the time. 

But now, even gazing gave him the purest sight of a vulnerable Iwaizumi and it hurt-- oh, it hurt so much that his bottom lip trembled and he had to remove his tucked hands from behind his head and press them desperately into his eyes to stop them from crying. 

“Hey--” Iwaizumi’s tired voice slipped between them, a hoarse tone of sleepiness making it sound rough and yet affectionate. Tooru couldn’t dare to speak. It had been easy to forget after many years. Hajime allowed him to express himself without judgement whenever he had felt scared or overwhelmed. He hadn’t cared about him being royalty-- or if he did Tooru was too lovesick to realize he had. Not that he gave him a say in severing their connection-- in denying them being soulmates. 

Strong, rough hands wrapped around each finger in an attempt to pry them off his face but as Iwa got one hand almost off Tooru yanked it away and put it back over his eyes. 

“Stop it Iwa-chan, I don’t want you to see me,” Tooru attempted to turn to his side, but Iwaizumi was incredibly tough as he should have known. He kept him as he was on his back though, not forcing Tooru to look at his handsome face by removing his fingers anymore. Tooru knew Iwa’s expression would fill with concern and he couldn’t bare to see it. Iwa did sigh, tossing his leg over Tooru’s stomach, so he was straddling his hips to be sure he didn’t push his face into the pillow and completely hide.

“Did you not sleep as well as I thought you did?” Iwa asked fingers trailed up his forearms sending electricity across all his hairs to raise them up on end. Tooru could feel that he still had magic in this realm-- and it coursed through his veins hotly now that there was a weight pressing against his core providing some element of grounding. He was gasping quietly, the dampness of coming tears hitting his palms. Thankfully not cascading or falling as he willed them to stop before they did. 

He couldn’t blend these worlds. This wasn’t his Hajime, and yet the Gods had sent him here-- for what? As punishment? 

“Tooru--” Iwaizumi bit at the knuckle on his right hand while he spoke. Hearing his name after he had said he didn’t use it paired with the explicit pain pulled the pressing hands away from his face rather quickly. Hajime looked smug in victory. Tooru realized he had completely fallen for his antics of exposing his face in a matter of seconds and couldn’t help the pout. 

“Trickery,” he whined, and Iwa chuckled, scratching at his hair and yawned spectacularly with a light stretch of his hands above his head. The lifting movement exposed his lower abdomen along with the lines of his upper body. The backdrop was lacking in visual help to make the whole angle anything but ordinary. The sun had barely risen, but the light did peak in through the shutters to expose dusty lines caught in the beams. Fuck he was beautiful leaning back still with his legs straddled on either side of Tooru's stomach, weight there as a stubbornness to being sure Tooru was okay. Hajime was so incredibly strong and handsome, capable of caring deeply in his unique, selfless way that without knowing him as a person-- could appear rough and calloused. 

But Tooru knew what it felt like to be loved by Hajime. To be suffocated in affection and dotted on in attention. He was aware of dozens of smiles and just what to say to irk him into a rage. And it all felt like a weight slid down his throat, constricting all the muscles and vocal chords in a wish to tell the sight to leave his vision. Pain swallowed past the lump, grappling the guilt he had buried for the last five years until it made every nerve alight in agony. 

“Woah, hey-- are you okay? Hey--” Iwa’s large hands had dropped quickly to grab his cheeks, thumbs almost brushing damp lashes. Tooru was gasping again; big tears finally spilled past his barriers. Catching along the calloused fingertips holding his face as he felt like he was dying on the floor in his castle. He sobbed. 

“Please tell me what’s wrong, hey! Tooru, please breathe. Did I do something? Are you in pain? What’s wrong?” Iwaizumi was speaking, but Oikawa felt consumed in finally letting go of all he had kept locked away. But also, Tooru was accepting the reality of it all. 

His Hajime back home-- he had been killed. Tooru had been the one to send him away. Exposing his secret that had likely lead to some imprisonment. He had been the one to sever their bond because he had been so sure that true love on this scale couldn’t possibly allow him to rule a Kingdom. 

Tooru had murdered his own soulmate. 

“Ahhh!! Noooo!” he wailed, trying to lift his hands to cover his face but Iwa had his wrists pinned lightly without too much pressure but enough to keep him from hiding. His chest rose and fell as the sobs grew, his legs kicked out into a tantrum-- unable to contain the grief that seemed to be making all of his body feel toxic and not his own.

Iwa fell on top of him, completely smothering his entire body with his bicep tucked under Tooru’s head so he could bring his face better to his upper chest and hold him. He didn’t say anything more, and Tooru cried five years worth of tears for an unknown amount of time. When finally everything became numb, and his body seemed spent, he opened his eyes to the fabric of Hajime’s sleep shirt. They were quiet; the room buzzed from random electronics and an object that blew air around the space above them. Iwa pulled away slowly.

“You are an ugly mess,” he said teasingly, a small smile twitching his lips though not hiding his concern that Tooru could still see. Hajime lifted his already dirty shirt and wiped it down his face, removing the last tears clinging to his lashes and the snot that had managed to smear across his left cheek. 

“What’s gotten into you? Have you been keeping stuff to yourself again? Last night you opened up-- and you’ve done this before right before you got hurt in the past. What has you upset?” 

It was adorable that Iwaizumi was still trying to work through the why. It was impossible for Hajime not to want answers. He could be stubborn, bull-headed if Tooru weren't careful enough, but he didn’t know how to explain this to him.    

“You are going to think I am crazy,” Tooru said with a rough whisper, his throat hurt from his wailing. Iwa settled by his side; elbow tucked on the pillow while Tooru slipped back into his original sleeping position on his back. His body buzzed with energy and magic, a weight had lifted from meeting his buried emotions head on, but now questions started to fill the void of his original despair. 

“Yeah right,” Iwaizumi said reassuringly.

"You will! I wouldn't say it if I didn't believe it," Oikawa pouted again. 

Hajime still looked completely unconvinced. 

“My Hajime,” Oikawa sighed in resignation. “Listen, I’m sorry this will sound insane, but you have to know in your gut I am not your Tooru. I don’t know how he behaves here...but I am not who you know.”

Hajime was strangely quiet, so he continued. “I am a King in another life and well--” Tooru played with the hem of his shirt, lifting his fingers to drag them under his nose red and damp. “I am quite dead on the floor of my castle and you? Well, I found out you were dead long before I had known.” Oikawa stared up at the ceiling, he couldn’t believe all this was real and happening. What if he had died there without this opportunity? They wouldn’t have ever been together again. 

“I’m sorry this probably makes me sound well-- anyway it’s the truth. I haven’t cried in years, and it caught up with me looking at you again and realizing I am in fact here and somehow you are too.”

Hajime's iris' were dilated but he wasn't shunning him for sounding stupid. Tooru searched his face for more answers, but Hajime only rested his palm on his cheek and gave him a loving look back. 

“This is a bit out there, but you have told me crazier things. Especially with the aliens,” Hajime didn’t appear as he believed him, but he wasn’t making him feel ridiculous for stating the truth.   

“I could show you, but I think it will scare you away,”

“Show me that you aren’t my Shittykawa?” Iwaizumi smirked while rubbing his left eye in fatigue of waking up early. Tooru could tell he was still tired, probably from waking up through the night to check on him. 

“That nickname is so mean,” he chuckled in response, looking over fondly. Hajime’s shirt was completely gross, damp and smeared in tears and snot. But Iwa had made no motion to remove it as if he was determined not to leave his side until he was sure he felt one hundred percent better. Hajime shrugged dismissing that it was.

“You cried last week when you missed four serves in a row, so I am not sure what you mean about not crying,” Hajime continued. “You hide it from most people, but you can’t really get away with that shit with me.”

Tooru felt fear crawl back up his spine, the words from his old mentor's having warned him about having his eyes wide open to moments in his life that would mark a crossroad. He had been prideful to know of the three big ones in his previous life, but it was clearer than the bluest skies that this was becoming one. He could lie right now. It had been his go to before, slip on a perfected smile and shrug off his exposure of emotions to hide the fear with confidence. Worries permeated the small amount of space between them. What if he shows him and it scared Hajime away? What if he lied and just lived this life for as long as he could instead? 

“Alright, I know I am stubborn, and I don’t talk nearly as much as I should, but if it makes you feel any better...I will kiss you if that is what you want. I-- you know, don’t really mind it-- is what I guess I am trying to say...” Hajime’s eyes had darted away briefly at the confession before they fell back on his own. Tooru smirked devilishly, but that one comment was all the motivation he needed to be honest for once. He sat up quickly, spooking Hajime into doing the same. 

“As much as I want a kiss from you I have to show you this-- first,” He pressed his palms together. Oikawa could do some powerful magic when he placed his mind to it, not that anyone but Hajime from his life knew of those extents. He focused his magic, the feeling mocking a tide pulling from a source he was born with and could control. Pressed fingertips pulled away slowly until it sparked in teal light, arcing between his nails harmlessly but spectacularly. Iwaizumi fell off the futon and scrambled slightly back to his bed.

“Holy shit! What the hell!?”

“Hajime, are you hard of hearing here too? I swear-- I use to have to repeat things all the time with you,” Tooru teased to keep them calm hopefully okay, he drew the energy together into a small orb that rolled around in his palm in a beautiful teal marble of light.

“Shut up! You just sparked things? Things! Between your fucking hands,” Iwa’s tanned skin seemed to gray, sweat just marking his forehead in what Oikawa could tell was genuine fear. 

“I figured you wouldn’t have magic in this lifetime, or whatever it is,” Tooru said with a snap of his fingers to make the ball of energy disappear. Iwaizumi shook his head in denial and stayed on the floor for a few moments without looking at him. Oikawa couldn’t stop staring at him in return.

“I’m sorry,” he slipped from the futon, crawling until he could put his hands on Hajime’s knees. “This is a lot to take in-- but you are the strongest, bravest, and most understanding person I have ever met. You were literally my sun-- I loved you so much it made me feel invincible. Believe me. I will be torn from this body because I don’t belong here-- there is something you must know that can help me find you in my world. That has to be the reason the spell sent me here or this was just a cruel punishment from the Gods.” 

“What do you mean?” Hajime asked carefully, holding his gaze with a hard, painful swallow of his fears. 

Tooru squeezed Iwa’s knees and situated his legs to the side to be close. Did he explain what he's done? Was it so simple? 

“I ruined everything that day-- I severed our string. The one that ties us together through many lives, and many realities.”

“Like the stories of soulmates? Is that why you asked about it last night?” 

“Yes, it is very true, we both use to be able to see it. Bright red and tangled around all we loved. The entire city draped in it. But I-- betrayed you. I told a secret so I could rule a Kingdom-- I wanted to be King more than I believed our love was worth keeping. It was all destroyed because of me--” Tooru's bottom lip trembled. 

“This is really out there Oikawa,” Iwa gulped, “You are literally telling me you aren’t yourself. Speaking about Kingdoms? Showing me magic? What string?”

Tooru had a sinking feeling he was going to lose any hope of Iwa understanding if he kept adding more on, but he could show him this piece as well. So he touched Hajime’s left hand, whispering a revealing spell. The string appeared torn as expected but with the light golden glow of their new thread see-through and connected. Iwa stared at it with the same expression he had back in his realm when Tooru exposed it for the first time. Tenderness resurfaced in Tooru giving him some confidence to explain.  

“I cut it myself, with dark magic,” 

Iwaizumi touched it. “Why?”

“I told you-- I really wanted to be King,” 

Hajime’s brows furrowed. He inhaled deeply, exhaling just as exaggerated before lifting his eyes up to meet Tooru’s. 

“Okay--”

“Okay?” Tooru couldn’t hide his shock and Iwaizumi, though still seemingly disturbed, seemed stubborn enough to believe this. 

“Yes, okay-- I have been your best friend for far too long not to back you up. You have magic-- okay. You revealed a fucking red string on my ring finger-- one that matches yours-- okay. Fine," Hajime seemed strangely determined now that he was developing a plan and could grapple a goal. "How do we get you back?” 

"Iwa-chan!" Tooru flung himself at Hajime who shrieked at the slam of weight to his front. Oikawa couldn't believe this was happening. The truth could lead him to the right path. He pulled back to answer grimly. 

“I’m dead, so I don’t know what’s going to happen if I do go leave,” Tooru responded. Iwa rubbed his chin in thought. “I should have asked for help back then-- there was no one I could ever fully trust.”

“How old were you when you jumped here?” Iwaizumi asked.

“Um-- twenty-one almost twenty-two,” 

“Well, we are eighteen right now. School's almost over. Is that important?” 

Tooru was still overwhelmed with the fact Iwaizumi was believing him or at least attempting too. The thread between them darkened in red subtly not that either realized it. 

“I don’t know; I hadn’t seen you since I was sixteen and made King,”

“What was the real reason you cried so hard this morning?” 

Tooru sighed, the guilt he had initially hidden had already been exposed when he broke down. It was simpler to face it now. 

“You had magic and to be honest; you shouldn’t have had it,” Tooru moved back to the futon, crossing his legs to sit. “People were afraid of anyone who had magic; I don’t blame them because in the past some Kings used it to rule people in fear. Regardless, only royalty should have powers, and you were a farmer's son.” 

“Wow-- you were just as ridiculous and shitty as you are here,” Iwaizumi managed a smirk, and Tooru felt himself blush with immediately riposte.

“I was jealous okay! I had been told my entire life that only royal blood could wield magic and it was a safely guarded secret, and then I’m outside having a picnic with a bunch of guards, and you come along with a fish in a net, and I saw it! This gleam in your eye that swirled with mischief. The water just under your boots didn’t wet them!” 

“I had magic, and you were jealous...” Iwaizumi had his hand on his head, appearing overwhelmed though attentive. 

“Yes. You were exceptional at it... especially with me. I could bring out your potential, use it to my advantage since you could use water and myself electricity. Together we could have destroyed the world if we destined for that path, but you wanted to be a damn farmer. You wanted to be dirty all the time and live in a tiny house, work with mulls! When I had a castle! A kingdom! There I was-- falling in love with someone who was supposed to be beneath me!” Tooru huffed, tears burned once more down his cheek in anger and sadness. “Everything you did for me became my entire world-- until I realized that you were in a different life than I'd ever want. I needed to make a choice, so I severed us--” 

“You severed our string without asking?” Iwa lifted his hand where the frayed string still resided. “That’s pretty cruel don’t you think?”

“Well-- once I did that-- I suppose you can say something changed in me. Something dark. I told on you-- that you had magic to be exact. The Great Eagle King took you away in a trade to allow me to continue ruling at Blue Mountain.”

“Wow,” Iwa shook his head, “this all seems very fairytale.” He paused, exhaling slowly. “But oddly you aren’t that different from the Tooru you claim you aren’t. One difference though. He’d never betray me-- he refused to go to Shiratorizawa when they scouted him for volleyball so he could play with his friends-- with me. He’s selfless when it involves his team though hides it well with his shameless flirting and love for the spotlight. I have never met anyone who has worked as hard as Tooru, and that’s because he’s not the best at anything without trying with all he is capable of. He consistently inspires me. I--”

Hajime had stopped speaking as if he was experiencing an epiphany,  Tooru had to place his hand over his heart for fear of it ceasing. 

“I’d say there isn’t any doubt in my mind-- that the Hajime you knew continued to love you even after you severed the tie because--me? I always have. Well, shit,” Iwa paused with scrunch of his face. “Loved you.”

Tears blurred his sight once again.  

“Don’t cry so hard again!” Hajime scrambled forward, grabbing his arms to half shake Tooru who became floppy and pliable in his arms.

“You said that to me...before you were taken away, ahh!! Hajime I messed up everything. Even you and Tooru here aren’t bound--” Hajime sat back on his heels, hands still holding Tooru up. 

"Are you saying my Tooru didn't love me?"

Tooru shook his head, "there is no possible way."

"Well, wow. Glad I didn't confess then, it would have ruined everything at graduation," Hajime slipped into his head a little, and Tooru allowed him to think about it. “Who can help you? Is there anyone from your world that is here too?”

Tooru wrinkled his forehead. There was a voice he recognized back at the building he had woke up in. He asked Iwa about it, Hajime pulled out something called a photo to show him the entire team they were on. Tooru's eyes widened in recognition. 

“The damn Fauns,” Tooru laughed a little deliriously, “they were in the castle, said to find them when I got back. Like they knew I was leaving…”

“They are Faun’s in your world-- oh man, if I weren't concerned for them thinking me crazy I’d believe they would love this entire tale,” 

“It’s not a tale! Iwa-chan those annoying creatures were in my castle, in the very room I was put in for my safety before I battled the army of Shiratorizawa! They knew something-- their kind could be my guides, and I always ignored them because they were annoying! I can only take so many years of goat puns Iwa-chan!!”

“This is getting better, please continue--” Iwaizumi was broadly amused with his smile at Tooru’s expense, and he couldn’t take it anymore. He grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him down, their lips brushing but not connecting. 

“Oikawa…” it was a warning from Iwaizumi, not to stop but breathless at the shift. 

“I’m sorry-- though you are not the Hajime I knew...you are the same, and I missed you so much. Your Tooru might not have loved you, but-- it's my fault for that. I have never stopped loving you. Please, can I have that kiss now? Just one... please Hajime,” Tooru leaned forward tentatively, and Iwaizumi blessedly brought their lips together, the press cautious and nothing more but slotted stillness. It sent fire through his body, a huffed groan left Hajime's chest, and Tooru lifted up to deep it, parting his mouth to feel the tremble in their jaws when their tongues just brushed. 

He pulled away before anything more happened, not wanting to be selfish when this wasn’t his life. 

"Shit--" Hajime was blushing beautifully, and yet Tooru felt guilt plague him over allowing himself to ask for such a thing. 

"I-- well," Tooru touched his lips with shaking fingertips. "I have to find those two right now. They might know something without realizing it.” 

“Well, we are skipping school today, so he could catch them at the gym for morning practice since we woke up early. We've been helping the younger members with a few things after not making it to Nationals--” Iwaizumi managed to say, but he was distracted leaning forward to brush his lips to Tooru’s cheek, then his jaw-- fingers threaded around his neck lightly. Nails brushing the edge strands of his hair. Tooru sighed and flushed at the attention, eyes fluttering closed. 

“Don’t you want to kiss your Tooru,” he whispered, “I’d think once I leave-- he will be jealous of me which-- means he’d be jealous of himself in a roundabout way. Wow, that is very conceded.” 

Iwaizumi laughed against his skin, denting his nose while a snort ripped through him. 

“This is why I call you-- him Shittykawa. What a mess, I'm really confused. Okay. Let’s get you back and see if this is all some crazy dream I am having about my repressed feelings,” Iwa sat up, tugging off his soiled shirt to root for actual clothes. Tooru quickly followed suit, though his skin buzzed with a different type of energy. One that he was sure came from their thread blended red with gold.

They got to the school quickly. Morning practice was taking place as expected, and Tooru couldn’t believe how excited everyone there was to see them both. 

“Oy! Captain, thought for sure Iwaizumi-senpai was going to keep you bedridden today!” 

Tooru didn’t recognize the voice of the first year, but his turnip-shaped hair did stir some memory of him. Did he know everyone here from his other life as well? That was the true magic behind bonds. They spanned lifetimes, and though he only had Iwaizumi as a soulmate, he knew there was a possibility for more to develop with friendships and family. Had he ruined all that too? When he thought back on the last five years, the only real friends he had were those two--

His gaze met the Fauns, though they looked very inconsistent with human legs and not being as large in this realm. It was undeniable of their similar presence. Both had a permanent twinkle of mischief in their eye as if they could see through the ruse that this was the Oikawa everyone here should know. That was impossible. Right?

“Oy, you all should be in warm-ups. Start your laps, you two-- with us,” Iwaizumi ordered the team out of complete habit while pointing at Hanamaki and Matsukawa who both had their hands on their hips with a curious tilt to each of their heads. 

“No seriously though, what are you both doing here? I mean, you already named the new captains and yet you keep insisting on practices...” Matsun rambled on immediately, his smile was lazy between them while they walked into a room full of metal containers. 

“Oh my god, did you guys finally kiss or do something equal parts scandalous and expected from everyone? Please share,” Hanamaki yawned while he said this as if he was talking about the damn weather. Tooru’s cheeks reddened slightly but Iwaizumi turned sharply to frown at the two. 

“Shush-- this will sound absurd, and I just need the immediate, instinctual response you first come up with okay? If you were to tell Oikawa a door to open which one would you pick?”

“What?” the two chimed simultaneously before bursting into a soft laughter. Even Tooru was confused at the question. What door?

“I mean I guess the closest!” Issei nudged his friend in the exact way Tooru had remembered the Fauns doing when they were picking on him. Annoyance immediately settled-- but so did fondness as the Tooru who was usually here surprisingly cared a lot of about them. Even believed them friends and that feeling of friendship kept him quiet for the moment. 

“Take this seriously!” Iwaizumi’s fists were surprisingly curled. Tooru looked better at his companion and noticed the stress he was usually good at hiding even from him was starting to crack and whither away. Did he want his Tooru back that bad? Did he not want him here? Or was it all too much? He reached out and wrapped his palm around the tightly knotted fist closest to him. The two troublemakers noticed and grinned wildly. 

“Knew it,” 

“Yep, all the first years are buying us meat buns after practice for the rest of the season now,”

“We will get so fat! But worth it-- meat buns mmm,” 

“Mmmm,”

Iwa’s other fist swung backward and struck the closed door, the noise made Tooru jump out of his skin and Hanamaki, and Matsukawa remained still gloating. 

“What is your problem?” Matsun asked retaking a step. 

“Iwa-chan, why a door?” Tooru asked cautiously. 

Iwaizumi was silent, Tooru’s fingers webbed together with his other hand. There was a buzz in the air they all seemed to feel now that all four of them were together again. Iwa’s gaze locked on a door in the back of the large room, his breathing strangely evening out. 

“I feel like something bad is about to happen,” he said with difficult swallow, “there is a red door you need to find, Tooru--” Hajime turned to him then, and he appeared scared. It flashed oddly as if the man before him wasn't the Hajime who belonged here. 

“A door? What door, what does it look like?” Tooru pressed on.

Hajime held his hand to his heart. " _He's_ so scared..."

“I’m sorry-- we shouldn’t have kissed, I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Tooru wrapped Hajime up in a hug and frantically looked around. 

“You two are acting weird,” Hanamaki commented, “what bad thing is going to happen?”

Iwaizumi’s brows knitted slightly, eyes still intently forward.

“It’s a feeling--" Iwa seemed overwhelmed but his conviction was shocking to Tooru who surmised that he was referring to the Fauns likely knowing and not the two beside them. Did he simply know because he was Hajime? Was their bond reconnecting across the timeline? Hajime staggered then-- gripping his side, and his knees struck the floor before anyone could stop it from happening. 

When they pulled away they saw blood pooling under his shirt, Tooru lifted the article noticing a rune crudely carved into his left side. 

“What the fuck?” Makki pulled off his shirt, pressing it into the bleeding carving. 

“I know that rune--” Tooru’s mind was racing, flipping through old spell books. Iwaizumi’s breathing was labored in pain before another carved on his forearm. Now his scream filled the room. Tooru glanced up, seeing a cloaked figure with a white skull mask of a deer standing in the room, the rune on Hajime’s forearm glowed a deep purple in activation. They lifted a ghastly pale hand, moving his fingers apart before closing his fist. Hajime gasped and then his body fell still-- Tooru could see it though. The soul of his soulmate chained in black magic as it was pulled from his body and into gem. 

A wheezing voice slithered through the air like a demonic snake, hissing into his conscious. 

_      “No matter where, when, or how you try to fix this-- I will always get what you bargained away,”  _

The florescent lights above them exploded then, each one blasting through the protective plastic to diffuse the light. They all screamed, covering their heads as glass rained over them. The immediate darkness felt sticky as molasses, and they all some hand grappled tightly to each other, so they knew where they were. There were footsteps over the crunch of glass. 

Tooru didn't think-- he stood up and formed an arc of electricity in his palm to light up the room. The three nearby covered their eyes, but he stared at the figure cloaked in black feathers-- they dipped on the ground around them. A crow's mask was covering their face. 

"SHIT!" Matsun shoved his two friends behind him. Holding Iwaizumi’s still body close. "Oikawa what the fucking hell?!" 

"Why are you here? How-- are you here?" Tooru asked the stranger, slipping his foot back to keep his magic focused to his palms. 

"Your invasion here was on purpose Grand Lightning King. The Raven Lord heard you-- did you not beg the Gods on your deathbed? Who did you think heard your cries?" The person's voice sounded young with an edge of annoyance towards him. "You got what you wanted, didn't you? And in barely a day-- this was the timeline which we assumed you stood the greatest success rate. Though--" they peered over at Iwaizumi and Tooru could see their shoulders sag a hair. 

Tooru looked at his finger where the frayed string was no more. The red line was faint, sweeping across the floor to connect to this world's Iwaizumi. Oikawa's body cooled in shock, his lips quivering when he realized Iwa’s body here was disappearing. 

He screeched.

"You see this right?" Hanamaki was wide-eyed by his friend's side, but the pair hadn't been scared out of the room yet. Tooru closed his eyes in frustration. He knew this ambassador, didn't he?

"Oikawa," Matsu demanded, "what is he saying? What the fuck is happening?!"

"He's saying this is what I wanted... but it's not," Tooru took a step forward, reaching for the crow's mask to tear it off. 

"Kageyama?" They all said at the same time. The appearing young man brushed bangs from his eyes and folded his arms forcefully across his chest in exposure. 

"Sire, we-- I am not supposed to be here, but--" at that moment a crash on the other side of the room had them all turning to a bright, impossibly bright light that died down to showcase another bird with fiery orange hair and righteous smirk. His mask was in his hand, unafraid to show them his face. 

"But I ordered him too! Come on Grand King! We gotta get you back!" Hinata jumped down from the shelf and ran towards them all. 

"He took him? Who was that? I know that rune-- I know it but where?" Tooru turned towards the two people he only knew as the Fauns with a frightened expression. Hinata jumped up and wrapped his arms around both their shoulders, feet kicking between them. They yelped at the black feathers now smacking them in the sides of the face.

"We placed you here because we needed time. It took us from your death in the castle until right now to figure out a way to send you back my liege, not just that! But when!" Hinata chirped excitedly. 

"Do you realize how many years it's been for us? Just listen to us for once-- " Kageyama continued to explain with a roll of his eyes as if he was losing patience. 

“Hajime is gone in this timeline-- his connection with me. Did I barter his soul that day? What?” Tooru fumbled in anxious confusion. 

Hinata whistled for attention. "The Raven Lord thought you'd be happy here, but there is a way to fix everything! These two likely know it--" Hinata squeezed two shocked volleyball players tightly in his grip. "Well, not them here but the Fauns. Come on Grand King? You didn't think you were alone in fixing all this did you?" 

Tooru's heart ached. Not until now had he ever believed he had anyone since he betrayed Hajime. He looked at his soulmate who had completely disappeared from the room. A sinking feeling swept over him, panic and fear wanting to shake him to the core. But Tooru understood what was happening now. They were in the in-between. The darkness was shifting the planes of existence. They were no longer here or there. And there-- in his timeline Hajime wasn't with Tooru. That was the entire problem. 

"Awe, he did believe he was alone. Bah! Kageyama was right! Dang, it! Now I have to find him a unicorn... do you know how hard it is to find them where we live?" Hinata whined childishly for an immortal before dropping to the ground, walking forward with a snap of his fingers to dispel the lightening in Tooru's hands. 

"You found your guides King Oikawa. Save him-- you have one chance to protect your Kingdom," Kageyama's grim voice filled the room before a flutter of wings left him feeling alone. The darkness resurfaced immediately but so did the quiet. He couldn't hear the others or anything other than the soft chirping of birds that became slowly clearer to his right. He took a few steps and touched the door they had walked through before, but when he opened it he was met with the sunshine just as disorienting as when he woke up in the future. 

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Akaashi!!! He's back!" two fluffy owls were sitting in a tree just by the door, their feathers ruffled and stuck out in random places as if they had flown fast to get there. Oikawa peered up at his familiars before glancing over his shoulder to see the two once standing volleyball players were once more the familiar Faun's he knew. Grinning wildly behind him as if they anticipated this plan from the start. 

"One more chance--" Tooru glanced down at his attire, draped in silks and furs, gems weighed all his fingers, and a crown resided in familiarity to his head once more. He removed it, holding it for a moment before dropping it into the grass. The red string on his finger was frayed here again-- but knew now that it was possible to return.

“We have much to do-- took you long enough to figure out all you did,” Matsu spoke for him.

"Yes-- I know where to begin," Tooru said, brushing his fingers to his lips in remembrance to the shared kiss with Hajime. 


	4. Fix His Fate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> be wary of violence in the end and a minor character(s) death, its not too graphic-- Cas

Flashback

“Have you ever killed anyone again?” Tooru was on the edge of his seat, coat of well-made red silks sprawled out around his shoulders and spilled down past the stool. The teenager had a cup of warm tea in his hands, rings resided on all his fingers to clank in antsiness to being stranded in this place. The snow outside had gotten incredibly severe, and their traveling party had to stop in this humble village outside the central city. The bartender laughed richly, his ebony hair falling on his face while he turned round to grab something off the back table.

“Every other night if I must, though that is an exaggeration. It's been some time, people learn to be wary,” the man named Kuroo tossed a damp rag on his shoulder, leaning forward on the bar to offer the young Prince a plate of six little buttery pastries. Tooru dipped one of them in his warm drink, eyes wide and curious on the stranger. Who said such a thing so casually? He'd never be able to listen to something this interesting inside the castle.

“Between you and me young sire? It gets easier once you realize you don’t much have a choice. This place? It’s a safe spot for everyone in this dreary village. To know they can come here and find some semblance of quiet and entertainment,” A safe-haven was the immediate word Tooru thought of, and glancing around the clean open style place, he realized that even royalty felt welcome to be here– without too much judgment or concern over his safety. Maybe curiousness but he hadn't felt scared to be here as he had in some other taverns.

Kuroo grew somber, a calculating gaze met Oikawa’s, and he allowed the stare down if only because he felt like the bartender was attempting to tell him more.

“Listen, you start shit here? You come into this place and want to fight? Touch someone who doesn’t want it? I don’t ask twice. You see that–” Kuroo pointed towards the large aquarium in the center of the room, the bottom of the glass basin glowed in purple and blue lights. Like a thousand fireflies were trapped within their stones. Oikawa immediately wanted to run over to it and press his face into the glass. The fish in there were unlike anything he’s ever seen before. Large, with green scales that faded into an ombré of teal blue, and their black eyes made them appear demonic. They were easily the size of his entire hand, some that stretched longer than his forearm.

Bokoku hooted from Tooru’s shoulder, flying off to land squarely on Kuroo’s where he seemed content to keep his head still while the bartender cleaned up around the bar. Giving him a hilarious appearance with his large amber eyes blinking about the room. Tooru paid no mind to his loud familiar who was getting impatient being locked in the place as much as Oikawa was.

Kuroo leaned in real close, startling Tooru, “That’s where you end up. The tank... not just your body will feed the fish ya know? Those delightful lights at the bottom? They are fragments of their souls,” Kuroo finished, and Oikawa shivered.

“Wait, you have magic?” He hissed, the tall man shook his head pressing a finger to his lips to silence his tone. Oikawa wanted to shout then, a bubble of anger at the gesture ignited a stubborn, spoiled part of him, but before he could do anything something in the air changed. It was subtle as a breeze slipping through his fingers, he blinked a few times– focused now on magic suddenly allowed him to see the tethers of wards lining the space. Like an invisible iridescent web, it was impossible not to get caught in it.

Glancing around slowly, he could see that the spellbound everyone in the space. He wondered what Kuroo meant when he said he only asked once. Maybe the enchantment took care of killing for him? The young prince wasn’t sure if he could stomach killing anyone– but did that fear allow the space to remain peaceful and safe? Did violence trigger a curse? Who cast this spell though? Magic was rare in form and Oikawa was sure it was unregistered with the Kingdom if it’s outcome ended in death.

Kuroo nudged the plate for Oikawa to eat and slightly dazed– he did.

“Not all magic is used for good; I’m surprised you so casually brought it up or noticed. This place isn’t mine, but it’s safe because of the threat of sleeping with the fishes,” Kuroo confirmed Oikawa’s thoughts, but he seemed scared just under the surface of his dashing smiles and confident speaking skills. So this wasn’t Kuroo’s spell work. Was Kuroo safe here?

Bokoku spoke in his head, “I sensed the magic when we entered, but so long as you don’t start a fight you should be fine.”

“Should–” The Prince rolled his eyes and nibbled on the end of the buttery treat just when the bell chimed at the door, and another boy walked in. He was carrying a large hemp bag over his shoulder, with spiky brunette hair sticking out around a hunter green wool hat dotted in the snow. The door slammed dramatically shut from the wind and Tooru was reminded that he hoped this storm would finish tonight so they could get to the Inn further down the road for more comfortable accommodations. All thoughts were mute. However, a blinding smile caught his attention, and the other walked right by him without so much as a glance.

“Hey, Tetsu! Brought you everything I had from the greenhouse, should hold you off for the next few weeks,” the teenager appeared proud, arms muscular while he pulled the heavy sack near the side of the bar.

“You would walk in this weather– I want to scold you, but I know you will only make me feel old after you ask if I am your dad for caring,” Kuroo slapped the teen on the shoulder, reaching down to remove the bag and started pulling things out on the counter. The jars were small but tightly sealed with detailed lettering labeling each one. Tooru was pouting without knowing it, watching the comfortable interaction.

“You could say hi to your Prince,” Oikawa’s tone held snotty without entirely meaning too. He was sitting correctly, back straight and chin held high, a stark contrast to the others who were here who were clearly happily trapped in the tavern on such a blustery day. Regardless, Tooru had a light about him as if his soul was something bright. The crown on his head was twisted in golds and copper accents with a teal gem in the center, it was impossible not to notice who he was as Tooru’s vanity and pride never gave himself a chance to blend in with ease. The boy cocked a brow his way and leaned his elbow on the bar while Kuroo hummed in excitement to the spices and food.

“Hi Prince,” was said to him and Oikawa felt shocked at the snarky timbre, it must have shown on his face because the teenager tossed his head back and laughed.

“It is not funny– you should at least lightly bow towards me and address me properly you cave man! The lands you walk on are mine; everything exists here peacefully because of my family. You–” The teen put up his hand to pause his rant which somehow worked.

“Prince Oikawa Tooru, I know who you are and its good to see you here. I am Iwaizumi Hajime, and you really should try to blend in before you leave here cause you stand out. Even with all those knight’s in the corner watching you, it’s impossible not to be curious what the Prince is doing so far out East,” Iwaizumi clicked his tongue, bowing slightly with a tilt of his head and removal of his hat which for some reason made Oikawa angry and oddly confused.

“Well, I wanted to come to the sword fighting competition, but it snowed. I hate the snow, my fingers get too cold to do anything remotely useful,” Oikawa mumbled the last bit, embarrassment at his soft tone only made him cut into the pastry with a fork and knife to munch on it just to remove the other from his sight. Apparently, this was also hilarious because Hajime’s bellied laugh distracted him mid-bite.

Who was this boy? How dare he be so comfortable around him as if he had shared any more words than Kuroo had, but at least the bartender had let the time pass by with stories for the last few hours. He turned to glare. A part of him wanted to stick his tongue out childishly, but it was then he saw it. The boy’s left hand pressed over his mouth in soft indentions to the skin of his cheeks as if desperate to not insult Tooru anymore than he was. But Oikawa’s eyes were locked on the red string around his finger, following it with a thunderous accompaniment of his heartbeat until he saw it’s connection to him.

“Oh–” he blushed deeply, trapped in a little world for a few seconds while the noise of the tavern died to a quiet buzzing noise. He’s heard the stories from his Mother, because of their magic she had been able to prove the tale as true over fairytale. She had a soulmate that wasn’t his Father’s, though King Oikawa was a good man and Tooru loved him– there was a small part of him that thought it sad his Mother couldn’t be with her soulmate. He used to ask her about them, and she’d insist she never spoke in person but that she had to of met them at least once for the red string remained on her finger to this day.

He was staring at his own hand when someone got close, and he heard the shuffle of metal armor from the castles Knights– the clatter drew him from his head to blink dazed and overwhelmed at the tilted head of Iwaizumi. Oh. He had hazel eyes, a swirl of brown, amber, and green meshed together and alighted in amusement and concern. He would still grow up. Obviously, they were young– but Tooru could already imagine the sharp features he’d develop. Especially if his arms and shoulders were defined as they were, what did he do for a living to also allow dirt to smear on his left cheek without his knowing?

“You okay? I was only laughing cause you honestly used utensils to eat these. Its suppose to be like this–”

The teenager stole a piece with his fingers of all things and plopped it right into his mouth, “you roll your tongue under it and suck on it, the butter seeps through as it slowly disintegrates and it tastes way better than cutting it into small piece.” Iwaizumi spoke with his mouth full and grabbed the last one and nodded as if to say ‘well open up.’

And he did. Slowly parted his lips and released a shaky exhale as fingers just barely brushed skin to set the treat on his tongue. Iwa was watching for his reaction, but Tooru was captivated in the kindness in his expression– how someone who immediately appeared gruff could be so handsome was confusing him. But as he sucked on it the tastes burst and came to life just how he described, Tooru’s iris’ dilated when a broad smile stretched across his face in candid delight.

“That was delicious! How dare you not explain this to me!”

He pointed an accusatory finger towards the bartender who put up his hands in surrender. Bokoku hooted in enjoyment to his new flustered companion causing the bartender to poke his feathery belly in retaliation. The entire mood changed at that moment. Tooru glanced around the room; everyone was laughing at him– but not to pick fun or belittle him but in sheer enjoyment. He hadn’t ever felt that before outside the immediate interior of the castle and the city just outside the gates. He should have tried to be with his people more than focusing on his studies.

Hajime slapped his hand on the counter, “Maybe next time you can eat with your fingers like the rest of us heathens sire– Testu, I’ll stop by tomorrow for the coin unless you can get me another cow? I wouldn’t mind having another one fully grown by next season.”

“I'll see what I can get with the travelers coming in for the fight, and let you know. Thanks for these,”

“Of course,” Hajime’s pride was showing while he pulled the cap back on his head after having dusted it off with snow.

“Bye-” he said directly to Prince Oikawa, offering a nod in passing and the most gratifying smile of Tooru's entire life. He watched him walk out the door back into the storm without an ounce of fear or concern.

“Wow– you are smitten,” Bokoku hooted, feathers now thoroughly ruffled from Kuroo’s fingers.

“He was my soulmate,” Tooru said out loud and instantly those around him continued with their evening. He let them– because there was no way to prove such things to those who held no magic but how the feeling never left. Not until he saw him once more by the river.

—

There was an issue with instinct. It clawed down your back, lifted the fine hairs on the ridge of your neck until you actually shivered at the reality around you. There was an immediate sense of control that swept you, demanded you pay attention– to stand as close as one could next to the people they wanted to protect. From what was always the question. Bravery didn’t lie running in blind– sometimes it was just a feeling that when something bad was going to happen, you were naturally ready.

Those words four words 'he was my soulmate’ echoed in his mind like a parasite, burrowing deeper into old memories with a laughing Hajime. How short their carefree life felt now that it was gone. Tooru would never have expected himself capable of this. To betray the one he loved profoundly– to not trust them inexplicably was the worse thing he could have possibly done. Oikawa was desperate for even a slither of happiness he could hold in his hands right now. Something small to care for as much as he had before he severed their bond. What was left to nourish and watch grow into something way beyond anything remotely close to life and love? His heart cried for the love he was certain he’d never have again. Or the friendships he missed because of his arrogance.

His eyes opened, breath deeply expanding his rib cage and stretching his back and shoulders to allow the blanket tucked near his face to fall around his waist. Tooru hadn’t dreamed such a happy memory for so much time; it dazed him. It came with grief unlike no other. Like the two emotions were always plagued to remain together themselves.

“You slept for an entire day,” Matsu was standing near the table of the small cottage the Faun’s had to lead him too before exhaustion had him passing out. The home was one large space with a bedroom, a kitchen where a single window allowed light to pour in had various herbs potted in the bright beams. The walls were warm in hues and decoration; patterned fabrics thinly draped over the windows that moved lightly in the breeze. It was well lived in, likely for quite beyond his own short human life and Oikawa loved the coziness of it, how no matter where you sat you felt safe and at home.

Tooru sat up, rubbing his eyes to notice his place on a soft couch stuffed with straw and knitted blankets. The smell of biscuits and freshly smashed jam instantly caught his nose.

“An entire day? I dreamed of Hajime; maybe I didn’t want to wake up,”

“That’s dangerous-- don't joke about that," Bokoku flew near his thigh and glared at him.

"Of course you did, your soul has traveled through time on a new path. Where you were then– without this experience I mean, only allowed you to feel the pain of loss you inflicted on yourself,” the pink haired Faun walked over to him and handed him some tea, it was instantly nostalgic to the dream he had, and he sipped the drink greedily. “Nightmares happen because of regret sometimes. It’s good you had a pleasant dream even if you look sad again.”

Both Fauns shared a knowing look.

“You will be missing from the castle; your old self doesn't exist anymore. You being here at all permanently erased everything you did before, including your physical being. Only one soul, as you know, can exist at a time in a particular timeline,” Makki hummed in thought just as Akashi flew into the home through the window with a scroll in his talons.

“You are officially missing– the entire Kingdom is on high alert looking for you. It is likely that the Eagle King will make a quick appearance in the Kingdom without a ruler on the throne,” Akashi held the scroll with his foot as Bokoku used his beak to unroll it on the couch, there clear as day was a reward poster for any information on King Oikawa. Missing.

“Hajime always said I couldn’t ever blend in no matter where I go, this will be something I can shove in his face if we succeed,” Tooru snorted with a chuckle as the parchment was released on purpose by Akashi causing the thing to roll Bokoku up in the large piece of paper. Only his head was poking out, gray feathers fluffed up around his neck and face comically. Tooru affectionally pets his head while Akashi smirked the best he could as an Owl. His companions were quite literally a hoot sometimes, always trying to make him laugh.

“You could brew up a decent disillusion charm, we have a lot of supplies,” Makki suggested, hooves crossed casually while he leaned into an oversized chair with a bowl of actual leaves.

“I haven’t brewed potions since Hajime, and I tried to make one help him fly for a night,” Tooru sighed, “but my Mother was always very adept at it. Getting out of these clothes will help too.”

Tooru sighed, rubbing his eyes to remove the last bits of sleep from them. “My magic is corrupt now from using that spell on Hajime– I don’t know what effects it will have on anything I make or do now. When I was fighting– I had immense power, but it tore my body apart. I am sure if I hadn’t passed out I’d have literally shattered into pieces. Am I evil now or is my magic?”

The Faun closest to him smirked, running his fingers through his pink hair to set Tooru’s crown on his own head. Generally, the blatant act of disrespect to his things would have ignited a petty fight and speech on respect, but Tooru found he liked the crown on the Faun.

“Is being tainted a terrible thing? All around us we see species evolving. Those myths whispered to children are often depicted in a way to show punishment for stepping on a side they should not have. If doing evil is such a horrible thing– if doing it didn’t somehow allow the light to exist at all…” Tooru gaped a little at the words making the other smirk with a gentle lift of his shoulders as if to expel a silent laugh.

“What he’s saying is that free will isn’t a scale of good and bad, its many layers and countless paths will be forged from choices. You are fortunate to have spoken to the Gods– especially the Raven Lord. They gave you flight through time. Also, they spoke to us many years ago, but we didn’t know why. We still don't, but we will help you King Oikawa,”

The echo of words having been spoken by Hinata a day ago made Tooru instantly tear up. He hugged the closest blanket and sipped his tea to hopefully hide the fact.

“They spoke to you?” Both creatures nodded, “warned us to watch you but that was it.”

“The Gods say they don’t like to meddle, but they sure do like a good sacrifice, they took my life before– and yet that was one timeline, one instance and here I am with a cause with their blessing,”

“It is better typically to simply say thank you and try to do what you need to to fix what you broke, they have their reasons, and you only confuse yourself trying to make sense of it,” Mattsu said.

It took the rest of the day, but Tooru had bathed in a nearby stream, switched out his royal clothes for common brown ones which still, much to the Fauns loud laughing and more puns than he had been mentally prepared for, still somehow looked amazing on him. He had set to working on the potion to aid in charming his face to appear as someone else while not transforming his features. Tooru honestly would never risk such magic, but he knew how difficult the journey into the city would be with every person looking for him. One wrong slip up and he would be dragged back into his castle.

That potion finished quickly and without any issues, and was being poured into small vials for quicker doses by the Fauns. Tooru was now attempting a location spell to see if he could get some lock down on Hajime. It was risky, as most things with magic of this scale sometimes had dire consequences, but he had to try.

“I’m adding just this last thing– a sprig of lavender, then we will know hopefully where he is. Hopefully, our travel won’t be too far,” he held the item over the cauldron large in volume to fit two full sized adults. The Fauns clattered over and peered over the bubbling substance, it was a teal hue almost clear without the sunlight hitting it just right to showcase its color.

“If you are wrong– will we lose our house?”  
“Perhaps,”

“Well–” Makki pulled a metal helmet on while Mattsu held up a silver shield. Tooru glared at them both while they boxed the vials into a wooden box and started backing up towards the door.

“It won’t, I swear. Thank you for your confidence though, what happened to that speech you gave me earlier?”

“That was to motivate you– no one said confidence was on the table,”

“You are the worse creatures in the magical realm,” Tooru exhaled and dropped the final ingredient into the cauldron, swirling a white crystal above it while he chanted the spell. What was supposed to happen was the liquid would turn into a mirror and allow him to see through Hajime’s eyes for a brief moment. It was intrusive and quite rude because it was impossible to hide the invasion of privacy without a mage having powerful mind wards. But it was silent less a small hiss as he spun the crystal in a steady circle. Tooru’s stomach dropped in panic to failing the spell but then the potion smoothed out along the surface, and a purple cloud of magic burst up and out of the cauldron, filling the kitchen in its dangerous fumes.

He was wordlessly casting a shield spell to counter it. Tooru spun around to find out the location of everyone as he tried to shape the ward around the over the bubbling cauldron, catching the eye of each Faun and his two familiars who managed to fly out the window. Tooru’s determination made him think he’d be okay while the others got out, but in his haste, the crystal fell into the potion causing the smoke billowing out to transform into a hand. He cast another spell to keep the air moving– trying to stop it from overflowing and burning. But the hand turned its fingers towards him and flew forward, striking his face to cover his nose and mouth. Pain errupted throughout his body as he struggled to breathe, the smoke ate away through his insides and devoured his mind– not into a fogged memory but an instant nightmare.

He screamed the second his conscious collided with a hard crunch to the floor. A bone chilling sound made him feel out of body. The strain of trying to move brought awareness to his restraints to stone. A twisted mirage flickered around him, teased his senses with an unknown location dank in mildew and the sharp scent of blood. Columns draped in frayed purple fabric circled around him, carved lines were etched into the stone in an intricate design. There was a dark brown stain on the bottom of the symbols.

It wasn’t real. It wasn’t real. Tooru swallowed down the frightened noise he was about to release in desperation once more. The chains tugged, tore at his wrists bound above his head causing his shoulders to ache in threat of dislocation. The bands around his ankles burned into red blisters from steel to soft skin. Tooru tossed his head with a battled cry of desperation to be released from his bonds. He had to get out– but his magic wasn’t present to break them.

“LET ME OUT!” He snarled, thrashing his head much like a wild stag. But the world fell blurry– tears burning his eyes treacherously– falling profoundly as he watched Hajime’s parents bloody and beaten escorted in the distance towards a cliff. They were screaming for him, reaching back and thrashing against their own bindings. But the person draped in black pushed them right off the edge. Each one. The screams shredded his control.

“STOP!” he wailed, blood coated along his restraints from the desperate tug to escape making them just slippery enough to feel his hands sliding in tease out of them. The noises of their fearful descend tore through Tooru– the bodies struck the ground far below with a thump of dead weight, and it rattled his world. A pause of existence swept him from fighting anymore into shocked silence. Gagging on the emotions that he couldn’t express beyond feeling like he was to be sick.

Then it struck Tooru. This wasn’t a nightmare-- he was in Hajime’s mind right now.

He blinked and focused his eyes on the distant part of the circular room where a person draped in all black was dragging another person into the space. They were unconscious, but Tooru could see it was Kageyama. Broken feathers dropped freely behind the moving pair until he was tossed on a table littered with tools stained in sickly browns and dark reds. His limbs were burned in runes, and crude designs that matched the floor, all he could make out was the softest rise of his chest proving he was at the least alive.

“There was something I was missing– and this was it,” Tooru whispered to the figure, masked and unfamiliar to his memories but he knew this was nothing he had expected to see. Tooru’s mind was running through his magic, trying to lift warding and shields mentally attempting to protect the body he now knew without a doubt was Hajime's. He had jumped into his mind– and even if the damage had already torn his soulmate into pieces, he didn’t want him to suffer anymore.

“King Oikawa– so you aren’t missing, you are hiding,” the voice was spoken as an echo, a haunting inhumane coarse whisper that instantly made him tremble in fear. How did he know he was here? Was he going to hurt Hajime more? What had he done already? What about Kageyama? Tooru internally snarled, but Hajime’s mind was pushing him out without meaning too. This sort of spell shouldn’t have allowed him to jump into him like this, but it had. Was Hajime calling for him all along and he never heard it?

“I will find him,” was the last words he had spoken before he was violently tossed back into the cottage where he simply opened his eyes. He was standing in front of an empty cauldron, a gasp barely contained before his fingers curled into the counter to steady the shake he loathed in his legs.

“Oikawa, what happened?!” Bokoku landed by him, hopping on the counter to gain his attention.

“I did the spell wrong, and it sent me into Hajime’s mind. He’s– captured, tied up…his parents,” tears burned down his cheeks, and he descended to the ground where his one hand resided on the wood of the cabinet door, and his other pressed tightly against his mouth in hopes to silent the sob that wailed out of him.

"What happened?" Akashi nuzzled his cheek, perched on his shoulder. 

"Someone has him-- he's not just hiding out somewhere... he's in real trouble," 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, I am going on vacation for the next two weeks so I likely wont be able to update until I am back. Id love to know what you think so far? I have lots planned : ) any comments are well loved and appreciated. -- Cas


	5. Far and In Between

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The King practices his spells and remembers important pieces of his life that motivates the next piece of their journey. The group has a run in with the Shadow Necromancer and Tooru discovers the world of magic that was always apart of his Kingdom but that he refused to ever see growing up.

  
Grief probably would eat away at his soul forever. Tooru can admit that after he had decided to sever his fate with Iwaizumi that he became numb and hollow in the inside, but his Kingdom flourished and bloomed into something successful without them knowing what he did. Tooru had a smile that could change the entire course of a project and when he put his mind to it and worked harder than most-- he always produced results. If his people felt safe, prospered, and believed he would lead them into a new era, Tooru remained convinced he made the correct call.  
  
His parents left him the Kingdom on the crux of his sixteenth birthday after he proved he was capable of ruling alone. They had desired to travel the world and Tooru was excited for them-- they deserved the chance to live outside the Castle walls, and if he was honest, he wanted to be King more than anything else. Before then, they were around to guide him in specific training to prepare him for the coming years alone.

There were always secrets with the Royal Family that traveled without their awareness. Whispers and rumors were a common thing to happen within the chambers of the Oikawa’s. Most started from the staff who picked up on certain code words they used or saw things that couldn’t stand explained rationally. It might have been because of rumors that Oikawa believed it better to not be with Iwaizumi as well. Distractions and love were fun at the moment but when it came to ruling-- he had an uncanny ability to focus; sometimes losing sight of himself along the way.

Tooru and his Mother had many nights together that he’d think back on and wonder why he hadn’t asked more questions. He had taken her words to heart, some of the literal meaning over inquiring if she meant different. Being a teenager must have shrouded reason to some extent. Perhaps it was the innocence still clinging to a boy who was no longer a child but not quite an adult. To believe so profoundly they didn’t need their soulmate came from an irrationality Tooru. It had been so clear. The very answer to solve his problems and to move forward with a ruling.

The Queen Mother had been one of beauty and grace, but with it came the sharp edge of a ruler who knew what they wanted.  
  
\--Flashback 15 Years Old--  
  
“If you think for a moment I want to trust you with this, you are wrong,” Tooru hung his head more in annoyance to this summons than the words that came from his mother’s mouth. His mom was always quick-tongued, sharp enough with her words to cut you down in confidence before you ever had a chance to shine. It wasn’t a bad counter to the brat that Tooru could be. It was her way of laying a level of dominance in the room and Tooru became incredibly used to it. So he awaited the next piece, hoping it went into a different direction than a scolding.  
  
“You don’t have to give it to me,” he said.  
  
“Yes, that is true, but it is on your Father’s insistence you should have access to it. Not mine. However– after some thought, I now agree.”  
  
The young prince took the old tome from his mother, fingering the binding cracked in age from the countless generations of sorcerers who held it in their hands. It breathed magic, and Tooru brought it to his nose. Inhaling the scent clung to its parchment, strangely generous in lavenders, and rose petals. Other alchemy scents permanently nestled into its old pages, and the suggestive scent of protection magic tickled his nose. His mother was always brewing, and he knew those lingering scents came from her work.  
  
“I don’t know what to say,” he responded, looking up to see his Father in the doorway wearing a cocky smirk so undoubtedly reflected on his son. His mother shooed him away with a surprised expression, and a shot spell that had yellow canneries flying towards his head. Tooru couldn’t help but grin when his dad pretended to be concerned with a wink towards his son and quickly left the room taking with him the chirping birds.  
  
“Listen to me, this book isn’t the Oikawa’s grimoire it’s my family’s,” she tucked herself by his side, Tooru suddenly even more lost for words.  
  
“I had no idea that all of your family had magic except you,” he said seriously, worry etching his face into a small frown. She squeezed his cheeks like he was still a child, making him pull his face away, so she didn’t continue to insist he be excited when he was worried.  
  
“Shh, that’s not the important part. You are our only living son; it should go to you. I have a smaller version I will continue to add too and then maybe you can combine them when you want too,” she bit her thumb then pressed the drop of blood into a small groove in the outer corner. The entire book came to life, a hint of gold wrapping around the binding to allow her to flip the old book open. Tooru appreciated the gift even more at its stunning display of magic until he saw the date marked on the top front page.  
  
“This is too much responsibility,” he visibility panicked, standing up. Suddenly feeling like he was once more being forced to grow up way faster than he wanted. There was no reason he should have this book. All it contained alone could be a wealth of information if it fell into the wrong hands. What if he lost it? What if someone stole it!  
  
“Shut up and sit down,”  
  
He did. She wrapped her arm around Tooru, resting her cheek on his shoulder to snuggle him. She pointed to the top corner of the inside cover where it read.  
  
'Never let your sense of duty prevent you from doing what is right.'  
  
“My family believes that there is a gray area with which you must live, people are only going to aid you so far. That there will be times when you have to do something that causes for a decision you might not want to make– but is the right one,”  
  
His heart pounded. Not wanting to hear this conversation again. His parents insisted this was his legacy-- to rule and become King. It was an ongoing planted suggestion. Not that he always realized it. What they controlled magically went beyond what the entire realm might even recognize if they knew of such things, and it wasn’t good magic. It had the capabilities to be evil. A demonic branch that tethered souls to a very mysterious Deity-- or so he believed. It had been why the Ushimia Family were always at odds with them.  
  
“I don’t want to learn these type of spells,” he said with a hard swallow, her soft curls tickled his neck while she turned a few pages for them to look at together. He peered over, her face a hair from his and all he saw on his mother was sheer excitement. The pupils of her eyes small, a smile pulled into something wonderful.  
  
“You will because you will likely need them. You can learn all the good magic you want, but this– is half your history. It’s in your blood, watch,” she nicked his finger with a drawn hairpin. The teenager slightly jumped when she pressed it into the corner of the book. It glowed much as it had with her, but another message scrawled in red ink under the various script that suddenly showed up on the hard leather cover. All the names from his mother’s family etched in blood, dried and magically bound to the Grimm. And there under his mother’s maiden name was Oikawa Tooru. Signed and bound in blood.  
  
“Thank you,” he said politely because what else could he say? His heart not having slowed down, his palms sweat against the tome as anxiety swept him into a well-hidden panic. This book was power, pure power his parents were trusting him with, and he realized he was supposed to be scared. But that didn’t mean he’d not be able to wield it-- to control like all those before him.

“Remember those words Tooru. When you don’t know what to do or how to make a decision-- remember them, and you will know the answer. You will know what you must do,”  
  
“Can I be excused?” he kissed her cheek. Granted his exit with a soft nod. He bowed slightly to his mom in manners and made for the door. Holding the new tomb tightly to his chest, swearing he felt another heartbeat against his own.  
  
\---  
  
“Get up,” a heavy hoof struck the side of the bed making Tooru jump out of the skin and deep thoughts.  
  
“One more hour...” he answered immediately, face smashed forward into the pillows and legs intertwined with blankets.

“You told us to wake you in the morning-- it's morning. Were you up all night?” Matsu sat down on the edge of the bed, shaking Tooru's shoulders.

“I might have been,” Tooru admitted, sitting up revealing a mess of hair and graying circles under his eyes.

He didn’t know everything as fact, and yet that was what was plaguing him the most. In his gut, he had a feeling that Iwaizumi would always suffer because of what he did. From unbearable heartbreak to whatever it was he saw from the location spell backfiring, to being trapped as a friend who had to watch women swoon the love of his life. Tooru had worked all night on perfecting the glamor spell and potion to be certain no one would know it was him walking through his lands. If such a stupid mistake would transpire, he was sure he’d lose control of all his emotions in one fell swoop.

Hanamaki trotted in with a chuckle and peeled a piece of parchment clung to his cheek, drool having glued it's thicker edges near his mouth.

“Sorry-- I probably should have rested better. I just had to look this over one more time,”  
  
An exhausted sigh slipped out of Oikawa. He gritted his teeth, crunched the enamel of his molars until they ached. The bones of his jaw popped in his ears when the pressure begged to be let up. With a stretch he threw his arms up into the air, cracking his shoulders and neck while he tried to keep himself from getting upset-- it had been a short nap over a night's rest, and all he had dreamed about was Iwaizumi’s parents falling off the edge of a cliff.

“You were having nightmares,” Bokoku hooted by the small, square window near the bed. It's drapes were see-through enough for Tooru to be able to observe him there but his familiar was looking out the window while he spoke.

“I know, I am determined to let this all affect me emotionally later-- if that is possible,” Tooru yawned. “I have been grieving for what feels like years now. It’s taking its toll.”

“Breakfast, practice the disillusion and the charged spell one final time. We are packed,” Akashi had brought him a piece of bread as he spoke, and Tooru munched on it while he pulled a piece of parchment littered in spells he had been trying to remember from his lost Grimm.

Tooru let them assume he had dreamed only on Hajime, but in truth, he had also visualized the Fauns in the future life he had traveled too. They had been different there-- strong and on a team, in a way, Tooru could feel emulate in the air between all of them. He had learned from Hajime that they had lost their last game of volleyball, but they didn’t seem sad about it. If anything they were still helping the team with practices and bossing everyone around because they cared about those younger than them.

Tooru had fantasized about that comradery. Seeing their concern as they held onto Hajime from their world who was in pain in their arms. Tooru’s subconscious was determined to make him remember that the Raven Deity had likely taken Hajime’s life in that timeline to send him back, and maybe that timeline never existed now that he was here and rewriting their story-- but if it was... Hajime died there. And they saw it; they were the ones scared and holding him until he disappeared. If the Tooru awoke after he left his body, he would be without him too.

It was Tooru’s fault again. He broke apart something that had been sufficient for them. They had a friendship there-- which was more than Tooru ever had in this life.

Until now-- he peered up and watched his two familiars flying around the room to help with the last minute packing. Hanamaki had apparently made bread overnight and was outside cooking it so they could have fresh food. Matsu was taking his time organizing their herbs and spices, as well as all the potions they had spent two days making. Mindless chatter filled the warm home, the King sitting crossed legged on the bed while he watched them.

Tooru had known the Fauns since he was twelve, and not once had he asked them what their favorite color was-- or what foods they liked the most. It had always been ‘get out of my castle!’ Or ‘stop following me around you don’t belong by my side so casually!’ How had they dealt with him for so long and not smack him upside the head? Why were they here now when he’s never showed gratitude.

“Why were you the castle that night?” He asked. Matsu leaned back dramatically to see him through the bedroom doorway before offering a wild smile.

“Told you, we have always been watching you,” came the response expected.

“Watching me because you have a mission?”

“My King, don’t you know about Fauns? We are guides; we are supposed to give you advice and lead you to a path likely unseen by stubbornness or other strongly opinionated emotions that blind your kind,” Matsu lamented and shrugged mysteriously without any additional answers.

“I know your kind are guides, but I just wondered why I never-- well,” Oikawa jolted just a little bit; Lifting his gaze to meet Matsu’s. “Well. I never once said thank you-- for keeping me company even though I was always rude. I’m grateful you are both here helping me.”

Matsu smirked and bowed his head lightly with honest respect. “Absolutely my Lord,” he hummed before carrying a basket out the front door for Hanamaki’s bread.

Magic materialized around the mage moments later. Teal light and electric lines carved up his forearms in crafted webs. It tangled with the natural bright white glow of the room until it grew hot enough to be the sun visually. Thankfully it didn’t burn his skin as it sometimes did.  
  
He leaned forward, holding the crown of his head as he tried to align his control. It had been dangerous to take on magic not his own all those years ago. He knew it could hurt him– destroy him. And yet he had been confident. So sure it had been what he wanted. He had believed then that his duty of being King was dictating he sever his tie. As his Father never had a soulmate, and his Mother never showed sadness in finding hers and being separated. It wasn’t necessary to rule and yet it required him to learn this branch of magic with risk.

But Tooru presently realized the error of his past. He hadn’t given his Mother enough credit. She had never been able to be with her soulmate so what did she know about its connection? He had been so entirely convinced that being a good King meant not feeling love but in staying focused. But that wasn’t what the Grimoire stood for. It was a reminder that with the light came the dark, just as the Fauns explained-- you couldn’t have one without the other. Chaos and Order. Light and Dark. Ying and Yang. They were always with the other and Tooru loathed he was too blind to realize his power wasn’t in his magic or being King, but in finding the half that made him whole would have given him everything he needed.  
  
Now, he focused on the piece of him he had claimed far too young. A dark void of matter and magic the size of a pea wedged into his magic like a cancerous tumor. The energy of his magic created a static charge of ions in the room, sparks connected between objects. Tooru’s eyes lit up in a magical teal. He felt the foreign magic inside of him pulse like a second heartbeat, forcing him to swallow its power; mocking a horrid medicine his mother demanded he took when he caught a cold.  
  
He pulled his hands apart in demand, causing a burst of chaotic energy out in a ring of light to ripple against the walls of the bedroom. The house transformed into various distorted shapes, a broken veil of magic changed everything around them into a visual of the Castle. The bedroom appeared crystal clear, and Tooru lifted his eyes off the bed to the illusion. Knowing the darkness was pulling from his desires to be home. Shaping from truths that maybe he didn’t want to go through with being the hero no matter how much suffering his soulmate had already endured. An ugly reality filled him with guilt, thinking back to that moment he had accepted this magic from the Raven Lord.  
  
\--Flashback 15 Years Old--  
  
“You might not be able to do this. Even with our help. It’s not unheard of… it’s why it’s not something you should do on another. Those who do usually lose their minds or cause a disastrous wave throughout time. Do you wish to do either or both?”  
  
“I can do anything I want. I am going to be King, and I will protect everything that is mine. Love is a waste of my attentions-- I can better help him without this--” Tooru was laying on a cot filled with soft furs, holding up his finger where a red string remained stable and solid. A fire was cooking meat, the juices dripping in a soft hiss to the hot surface of wood fueling it. Hinata was frowning but petting Akashi absentmindedly in deep thought to Tooru’s words. Tooru was exhausted from the training he was currently failing spectacularly at, but he was getting stronger. This type of magic didn’t come with an instruction manual only these two crows which had been willing to aid.  
  
“Freeing Iwaizumi of you is a grave mistake. You haven’t even talked to him about it! Kageyama we need to stop this instead of helping him. I keeping saying it but neither of you is listening to me,” Hinata glared at his raven-haired partner who stood draped in long black feathers from their oversized cloaks. A persistent shadow lingered around the taller one's feet, gloom and doom vibe that the young Prince had pointed out numerous times already.

“He appealed to our Lord, and they answered. We have to help, you know questioning it is a mute point, idiot,” Kageyama frowned, folding his arms across his chest.

“How long have you been serving them?” Tooru asked, sitting up in an attempt to keep the two warlocks from fighting.

“A few hundred years,” Hinata magically webbed a real pair of goggles while he said this, setting them right on Bokoku’s beak to make his owl eyes huge. “Bahaha-- look at him!”

“Stop already, leave the Prince’s Familiar’s alone and help me with this,” Kageyama had picked up a stick and was carving runes into the soft soils of the secret castle garden.

“Are you immortal because you serve him? I want that--” Tooru said with a serious furrow to his brow. “If I prove I can wield his magic, will I be able to?”

“No-- sorry Prince Oikawa, but you have to have one hundred percent trust. Even though I am fighting with you on this choice, we will stand by you. You work hard-- but the fact you want to go on ruling alone is evidence enough you couldn’t handle being a crow. We fly together,”

Hinata shrugged while he finished explaining, but Oikawa grew frustrated he couldn’t be allowed immortality on a technicality to his love life. This emotion only proved further he was doing the right thing. Relying on people never gave him the results he wanted. He had to work harder.

“Maybe it is time to see if your soulmate can live up to his family’s history then. You think this is difficult? You just wait--”  
  
Without warning, the room blackened. The fire snuffed out and left Tooru in pitch darkness. He couldn’t see his hand, but he had it up. The wand was already pointing in an unknown direction when a chill seeped up his spine. The spell trickled against the skin as if winter was devouring him from the inside out until he felt the foreign magic tangle and mesh in attachment with his. The power made him shiver. It even tasted on his tongue, the extra magic a dark drug that further electrified his element of magic.

Tooru closed his eyes, demanded the dark bead of magic to be a part of him. The matter couldn’t be destroyed. But it could be bent, and shaped. That was everything with magic, and he had to have this power.  
  
Tooru focused on knitting the dark magic together like a giant quilt. He began shaking and bleeding from the grip he had on his left forearm where the pain of his electricity magic was once more burning into his skin in ribbons of light.  
  
“Don’t rush it. Ever impatient you are. Remember, you are no genius, and you have no natural talent for this branch of magic,” Kageyama’s voice was dry and annoying to the Prince, but he pushed it into the back of his mind.  
  
He centered body, spirit, and soul. The chill resurfaced when he did, but the extra magic was heating his blood, affecting every aspect of his body like a parasite refusing to behave. It shaped into a small size, attached to his magic like a bomb just waiting to go off should he need it. This dark magic provided power, but it came with a price to his body.

Tooru slipped into a meditative state in an attempt to control its use. When a hand touched his back-- he sat up, the world dizzying not realizing he had fallen backward and was barely able to breathe.  
  
The orange haired immortal wizard laughed with a soft boop to his nose when he straddled his waist. He watched him look around, but Tooru didn’t know why. A smallish hand pressed a palm against his bare skin over the ribs along with his right side. Runes carved in white along the pale stretch of skin instantly. Tooru yelped at the sting.  
  
“What are you doing?!” he wheezed and gripped at the wrist of the warlock and tried to pull his palm away.  
  
“Placing a key,” Hinata chirped happily stepping back to look at his work. "I see things, know things you I can interfere with. But this is just in case."  
  
“For what?”  
  
“For if you ever change your mind about this stupid plan future Grand King.”  
  
\--  
  
He lifted his shirt where the pale runes were still present on his skin. The magic in the space had died down to a buzzing hum of energy. Makki and Matsu were both drinking from a flask watching him with curious expressions now that all the practice magic had proven successful.  
  
“I’m still so confused about everything,” Tooru admitted, and both Fauns epically laughed at him for it.  
  
“Doing nothing isn’t going to help clear this up,” Matsu said tossing his arm over Hanamaki’s shoulders as they both looked at each other with a gleeful wonderment and said at the same time.  
  
“Goat’s to make a plan!”

They peeled into laughter, slapping one another on the shoulders as their big steps struck the floor in their mutual enjoyment. Tooru sighed, but a small smile was toying with his lips.

He once more clapped his hands and created a ball of electricity between the palms and snapped his fingers to dispel it.

All the practice last night and this morning paid off even if he was still fatigued. He felt more himself in some way-- or at least he didn’t feel the instinct to burrow into the mound of blankets in self-pity. He wanted to fight and more than anything he wanted to win and save Hajime. Was this the man he was always supposed to be and he denied himself?  
  
“We need to go find this bartender named Kuroo--” Tooru pulled off his shirt and tossed it on the bed while he rummaged through a satchel of things to pull on something clean.  
  
“Who?” Akashi regrettably said, and it sent the Fauns into another fit of laughter. Tooru was actively smiling now, feeling color warm his cheeks in affection and happiness.  
  
“I met him on the first day I saw Hajime, but that’s not what was important. That place had magic-- I forgot about it until recently. I’ve been thinking back on a few memories that seemed to have been forgotten. We should find out who designed it. They might have a better idea about where Iwa-chan might have been dragged too,”  
  
“Iwa-chan? Wow, how did he ever put up with you?” Hanamaki chuckled out the last of his laughs and started grabbing the last few things for travel.

Tooru kind of liked the nickname from the future.  
  
“Listen, my family… no, well. I actively pursued learning how to wield the dark arts from the Raven Lord followers. It was the only way to sever a string of fate. I-- have to admit something,” Tooru finished getting dressed, his fingers curled lightly in a show of stress, but he exhaled sharply to get it out.  
  
“Kageyama and Hinata were the ones to show me how to access it. They were reluctant, but they said, in the end, it was my life path to walk. But Additionally, I lost my Grimoire right after I used the spell on Hajime,” he reached over to gather his notes that were messy and yet organized in a way he understood.

“You lost-- a book of spells and magic, about how to properly wield dark magic,” Hanamaki repeated with a low whistle. “Do you need it now?”

“I think I do; I hadn’t realized it before because I was blindsided that Hajime was a warlock back then. I forgot about the magic in that tavern, and now that I am thinking about it, there might be a chance there are more gifted people in my kingdom than I ever took notice too,” Tooru finished getting dressed, the clothes peasant in attire with a sack on his back full of traveling supplies. The Fauns were good to go as well, locking up the house while they all walked out.

Tooru cast a glamor on the house; it disappeared from view while they made their way down a well-beaten path.

“Your family and every other Kingdom has always outlawed magic, is this because you assumed only royalty should be allowed to wield it?” Matsu asked.

“I think, that the wrong people can make anything wonderful tarnished. Was so blind as not to see their magic around me? Then I was never truly a good King was I?”

Bitterness presented itself in the statement. Hinata had always been the light in Kageyama’s darkness. The two immortal crows had spent hundreds of years to get to Tooru who had been sent to the future just to be certain of the exact ‘when’ to send him back. He had always believed them to be capable of more than they ever showed him, and now Kageyama was trapped with this masked and hooded person. Did that mean Kageyama would be okay in the end? Or had the crow been taken because of his meddling?

He frowned. “I always assumed myself alone, and Hajime told me countless times that I had more people who understood the real me than I ever gave credit for. I was so foolish,” Tooru didn’t want to get upset, but it was challenging to realize the scale of his faults without being able to fix everything that he likely messed up. Even if he saved Hajime, his parents would still be dead. There would always be a stain of his poor choices; he just had to hope time could fix it.

Tooru took the potion when they started running into people, and with a tap of his wand to his cheek his face changed in appearance to someone who could blend in and be forgotten. They made it through the streets without any problems; the Fauns were often stopped though, people asking for advice on travel and if they knew of certain locations. Tooru was surprised the two knew so much about his Kingdom, offering their answers for little bronze coins or sprigs of herbs and even a sweet bun. It was nice, strangely, to not be the center of attention for once and he trailed by their side like they were the most influential people in the world when he was the currently lost King.

The tavern had been exactly as he remembered, though to his conscious it felt like seven or eight years had passed, in this timeline it had only been four. He opened the door cautiously and felt the magical web cling to his person immediately. So it was still here.

“Bit early! Sorry for the mess, but were not usually open about now,”

The rich voice from the bartender came from the back room. Bokoku flew towards the sound, and the loud yelp and crash of a crate to the floor ended with a laugh. It had lasted half a second before he was barreling out the back storage room, frantically looking around only to see them.

“This is the King’s Fam-- pet, do you know--”

“Kuroo, it is me. I am under a disguise,” he tapped his cheek with his wand and the spell faded to reveal his face.

“OH! Thank the Gods; everyone is looking for you. I thought the worse, especially after Iwaizumi went missing two years ago and all those other people. I had this sinking feeling someone figured out about you,” Kuroo placed Bokoku on the counter, looking genuinely worried and upset. He poured himself a drink and shot it down, stroking his white and black haired companion.

“What other people?” Matsu asked, they all walked in, Makki locked the front door, so no one else wandered in.

“Others have been going missing?” Tooru asked. “For how long?”

“Well, my liege, I hate to say this, so frank but people who have magic always had to operate in secrecy, so when a few I knew started going missing-- I put the connecting piece together pronto,” Kuroo looked sad then, resting his chin on the palm of his hand. “They took my best friend-- Kenma was harmless ya know-- he’d never hurt a fly, but I haven’t seen him or Lev in a year now? They wouldn’t leave without saying something.”

“How many are missing? Why didn’t I know people were taken in my Kingdom? Kuroo! Why didn’t you tell me? You of all people knew my secret--”

“To be honest, I thought you were taking them,” Kuroo blinked up at the younger male, and Tooru’s heart constricted.

“Did others think this?”

“Yes,”

“Why?!” Tooru’s fists clenched at this revelation. How did he not know about all this? For years he had been King, nearly seven before he died and never had he any idea people with magic were being taken!

“Alright-- we're doing this. Well. You were told in court about the missing people, but you didn’t see fit to send us any aid. You were busy dealing with the Eagle King and their advances, and after the third or fourth person left without being able to say outright they were witches-- well, we assumed maybe you knew more. Rumors spin tales-” Kuroo spoke confidently for being put into an awkward situation. Tooru, on the other hand, trembled in anger.

“I remember--” Shiratorizawa around that time had propositioned him, and he had just sent Hajime away. All he was focusing on was expansion and making deals with other Kingdoms. Something so small in nature wasn’t worth his time, and he had assigned a Lord and Sheriff to overlook it but honestly forgot.

“You didn’t leave the castle much after Hajime disappeared and you showed no reaction to it-- we thought you did something to him,” Kuroo finished his statement and poured himself another glass. “Did you?”

“I did,” Tooru admitted, “I severed our soulmate string, and banished him from my Kingdom.”

Kuroo’s eyes widened and whistled at the news.

“That’s fucking cruel,” the older male spoke into the glass, drinking it down and rising to his full height. “Is he alive?”

“As of now, I hope so. I am fixing all this Kuroo, I will find your friends as well,” Tooru reached out then and pinched his fingers to the invisible web of magic. The silk like material vibrated at the intrusive discovery. Tooru snapped it, sending a spark of magic through the entire network which came into view in the tavern when it overflowed with light before exploding and fraying. Kuroo seemed shocked then fear settled over his face while he leaned back on the counter and glanced around the room.

Tooru’s eyes had shifted subtly. Usually, the teal light of his magic would ignite when he practiced his magic, but right now they were a dark, pitted black as if he was a demon. He cocked his head, listening as a whirl of wind swept into the tavern, blowing the door off its hinges to clatter on the floor at his feet. The Fauns stood right behind Tooru, Kuroo surprisingly had a wand drawn and pointed it right at the cloaked figure wearing an ivory white doll mask.

“Surprised this is what I come too--” came the raspy voice, shadows seemed to spill out from behind their mask when they talked. Tooru recognized that this was the same person he had seen when he had attempted the location spell.

“I was here all those years ago and didn’t realize what this spell was,” Tooru slid his fingers together allowing the remnants of the web of magic to fall to the down as ashes. “Is this how you found them? Those with magic? Scare the patrons with a crafted story to keep the peace so anyone would feel safe here.”

The person didn’t move nor talk, though their arms exposed a graying limb that contained runes of all kinds, and decaying moulting patches of skin when the cloak draped over their shoulders shifted in the wind.

“Where is Hajime,” Tooru demanded, voice clear and not afraid.

The person laughed, and Tooru was certain he knew that amusement but his thoughts were interrupted with a blue spell that seeped into the floor, racing like a wave of invisible water. Tooru cast a shield to stop its advancement, the floor splintered and wrapped around the ward. Instead, heading right for Kuroo. The older male fastened his wand into a shape before him, red light drew a rune that he pressed his palm into and as if sticky-- the rune flew through the air and landed on the floor causing a rumble like a mini earthquake before the wave dispelled into tiny rocks.

“Transmute spell-- earth magic is always such an annoyance, as is electricity,” the cloaked figure growled and snapped his fingers, and Kuroo started coughing blood, grappling with his throat as he gagged and struggled to breathe.

“Stop it!” Tooru lashed a spell of lightning in the shape of a net; the object flew through the air colliding with the person for a second before it went through them. The smoke reformed into a solid being again, holding the spell on Kuroo who had already passed out on the ground.

“I SAID STOP!” Tooru stomped the area, a crack of lightning broke and splintered the broken floor. Out of the crack came a white light that formed into a ball in his hand, he slid his foot back and jumped into the air. Slamming the ball of light against his palm sending it flying over the vent on the ground to gain momentum and slam into the enemy.

They just were quick enough, and they screamed when it struck, the voice distorted and hollow sounding even in a moment of being electrocuted. Tooru’s arms were smoking, ringlets of charred skin in a patterned arc left him wheezing from the dark spell paired with his element.

The cloaked figure opened his hand, the grayed skin reformed right before his eyes. The power behind Tooru’s spell was only pausing him for a moment as the person rose back up in the doorway. With a snap of his fingers and an open palm twisting and curling each finger closed into a tight palm, Tooru didn’t understand until he heard Hanamaki yelp. He turned to see Kuroo’s unconscious body floating. His chest seemed still, limbs limp as the spell forced his mouth to unhinge and a bright red light slipped out of his body. It looked like a star, twisting and struggling as if it wished to explode in the space.

It flew through the air and into the enemies palm where he closed it, and the energy seeped into his body.

Kuroo fell with a resounding thump, seemingly dead behind them.

Tooru was in shock. He couldn’t act nor move; nothing could stop his brain from running in circles in denial.

“Why--” the whined tone slipped out between his lips, his eyes back to normal and full in a mixture of fear and sadness.

“Because you liked him--”

“Then kill me!” He shrieked, “is this why you have Hajime? Kageyama?! Hurting them to hurt me isn’t necessary! I. Am. Right. Here!”

The other laughed, “you will understand eventually,” Smoke filled the room, removing the person from sight.

“Kuroo!” Bokoku was the first to fly over and slam his small body into his friend; there was an unsettling quiet in the space. Then a deep inhale, one that sent Kuroo into a fit of coughing that forced the last of the blood from his lungs. Tooru still couldn’t move, but the Fauns ran over and pulled Kuroo up from the floor. Clapping his back and pressing a towel to his face.

“What happened?” Kuroo wheezed, holding his chest as he tried desperately to breathe without inducing a cough. His throat horribly bruised. “Wait--”

Tooru watched with a level of dissociation as Kuroo’s expression changed into a panic, and then his eyes widened in sadness and confusion.

“My magic is gone,” he gasped, “it's gone.” He flicked his fingers, drawing runes Tooru knew very well to produce simple shields and sparks of light, but nothing happened.

“They took it--” Tooru whispered. “They took it because of me. I’m so sorry Kuroo. They are too powerful; I stood no chance against them.”

Kuroo sat down on a bar stool, the tavern destroyed from Tooru’s electricity bolt, and the waved spell that had lifted and buckled the floor all the way to the bar. Tables and chairs remained splintered in destruction around their group.

"No, fuck that-- you said you are fixing this? Then count me in," Kuroo accepted a potion from Makki who uncorked it and let the other shoot it down. Soft magic healed his throat. Kuroo ran his fingers through his unruly hair and released a heavy sigh.

Matsu walked over to the fish tank and boldly struck it apart with his elbow. The glass exploded dramatically; the fish flopped on the floor-- nipping at his legs but he kicked them aside, walking forward where the glowing soul gems were humming in energy.

"I know exactly where we need to go for help--" Kuroo said, offering a leather pouch for the Faun to fill with the soul gem pieces.

"Where?" Tooru asked.

"My King, you need to see your world from our eyes. And not just your subjects-- but the gifted. We need to find the other crows, and we require more magic to defeat that monster,"

"Where is this?"

"It's not where exactly," Kuroo nodded towards Makki who skipped over to a door that opened to a broom closet. The Faun opened it in show of such fact, but then Matsu dragged the King towards the door with a firm grip on his wrist. The pale runes on his stomach lit up, and the keyhole burned in white. Makki reopened the door and on the other side wasn't a small broom closet, but a town square he's seen just outside his castle.

"Welcome to Aoba Johsai Magic Market-- "

"The castle is right there," Tooru tapped his face and drank a potion to shroud his identity. "How had I never known about this place?"

In that second, a mop of orange hair and strong collision into Tooru had him grabbing their shoulders and looking down.

"Hinata?"

"GRAND KING! I'm so glad you are here!" Oikawa didn't even ask how he knew who he was, but such words didn't leave his mouth as Hinata's chest was soaked in red, a deep carved wound etched in the pale skin.

"Hinata! What--" he glanced up when Hinata collapsed heavily into his arms, and the Fauns had their weapons were drawn, Kuroo pulling out a sword and shield of his own. The city was on fire. They hadn't noticed it right away, but now that he had stepped through the distinct scent threw him into the original timeline when his city under attack.

"Hinata-- wake up, come on," Tooru kneeled down and tapped his cheek, waking the crow with confused eyes.

"Grand King! I'm so glad you are here," he repeated deliriously, and Tooru held his cheek, forcing his gaze to his own.

"They took them all-- Tanaka is the only one left and me... but ah, they got me good right here," he lifted his hand to the open wound on his chest. Makki knelt down and started pressing some of their herb pastes into the cut to stop its bleeding hopefully.

"I can't heal it-- you know I can't because of the dark magic. Who did this? How can you get so hurt?"

"We call them The Shadow Necromancer-- they are collecting magic and souls, we have always known their presence in many timelines, but this is the first time they are powerful enough to materialize into a mostly solid form," Hinata sighed at the cooling effects of the herbs. "King Oikawa, that key will allow you access to any magical door so long as you have the Fauns with you to open it. I hope, this all works out. It is your last chance too. Whatever happens, this is it; there are no redo's."

Hinata closed his eyes, a strange calming smile on his lips as black feathers enclosed around his body as massive crow wings. Tooru was certain they were immortal-- so was he returning to his Lord to be reborn? Feathers cascaded to the ground and through Tooru's fingers as the body of the young appearing red head disappeared from view. He swallowed thickly, a tremor to his lips before he rose up.

"Let's find help, a team-- to battle this necromancer,"

"A team huh? Hinata is likely fine my liege," Makki said with a hand on his shoulder.

Tooru nodded though concerns still went to Kageyama and all those runes carved into his skin.

"For once, I want everyone I can by my side,"

 


	6. The Manifestation of Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tooru surprisingly sees his parents and yet can't engage them while they fight to protect the city from attack by shadow monsters. They gather with Tanaka to break apart the portal allowing these creatures to terrorize his people. He admits to his team that he understands this power as it was him initially who worked on acquiring it to use against Ushijima. The Fauns and Tanaka all seem to know more than they are saying. One thing is becoming glaringly apparent as they get closer to finding Hajime, Kageyama, and the other missing people. Tooru's actions created the Shadow Necromancer.

_Month before in the original timeline before he returned. (18 years old)_

\--

“Who are you?” The grim words filled in the library within the castle by his mother. “I said who are you?! You are not the son we raised. What have you done with him?”

“Ever the dramatics this family is…”

“You dare!? What you speak on will destroy your entire family’s reputations, beyond the risk of your life it is pointless! I am your mother– I WILL NOT BURY ANOTHER CHILD!”

Tooru's entire body froze. He parted his lips to dampen their edges, staring out the window of the old house. The city was calm right now. Nothing exciting happening like it usually did, maybe the market will be open later. His mother gripped his arm, turning him sharply so he could see her tears and damn if Tooru was thankful they were there. The woman never showed such emotions freely. Maybe finally he went too far with all this.

“You come back after being away for two years. I am standing here telling you I developed a spell that will break beyond the reaches of this realm. I already mastered severing something deemed impossible! I have been striving to be more than you ever saw in me– and you are still angry? Still disappointed."

“What you did to Hajime was forbidden and awful!! Selfish boy! And this too? You could cause a catastrophic event dealing with unknown realms! What will come out of it?! What if you unleash Hell on Earth because you can’t let go of this POWER! It has ruined you--”

His heart hammered at the words, and for the first time in his life, he wanted to unravel and scream/ Tooru didn’t know if it was the dark magic bound with him that was making him feel these things. But anger coiled under his skin and ignited into a curled fist against his side which flickered in electrical powers. His mother took a step back, lifting her finger in warning.

“There is something wrong with you– what is this darkness Tooru? I see it– mother be, you are coated in it,”

The King chuckled. “You wanted this– remember that book? Well, I learned everything in it. Remember, it was you both who left me this entire Kingdom to protect when I turned sixteen.”

“We wanted balance! But as expected you have taken a goal and strived well beyond it! Hajime supported you, and you didn't just tip the scales-- you did so much worse my son, you have to fix this!”

“No, you knew what power I contained this entire time. You both knew what I was capable of, keeping me on a leash with enough knowledge to never step over that wall you proudly built. The Raven's Lord opened my eyes,”

“You met Them? Oh mercy– I have to find your father,”

Tooru grabbed her wrist, pausing her leave. She snatched it away like his grip had been burning hot, and he laughed at the ridiculousness of all this. For years they pressured him. Over and over he’s never been enough no matter how hard he tried. Stay home, get married. Serve the Kingdom and be the King like you were born to be. And he’s always rebelled in minor ways. Choosing to hide near the waters to watch Hajime fish for hours, to travel and use his magic in small ways over bigger life altering circumstances. And yet he’s standing here now. Telling his mother that he’s done it.

He’s finished a spell that could open an actual portal into another Realm or another time altogether. He would be the first master this– at least it will be well documented. Finally, he will have ways to defeat King Ushijima at his games, keep everyone safe and flourishing with this threat and power. How much more of an achievement could he present to her?

An ache filled out in his chest, Tooru pressed his hand over his heart because no smile could hide all he was feeling right now. He tried so hard. Sacrificed so much. He just wanted to be the best, and yet here he was viewed a child making mistakes.

His Mother’s brows furrowed, “You are overconfident as always. Did the Ravens gift you something? What was it?” she demanded her wand out now and pointed right at him. His heart clenched to the visual. Would it come to this? He untucked his tunic and lifted the article revealing the white runes tattooed up his ribs. She gasped,

“A runed key– you are a key! Why?! Why would you be so stupid!”

Tooru's hands shook, lowering his shirt and drawing his wand. Only a handful of times had he wielded a weapon towards his parents– never his mother though.

“What is it about all this that you are so caught up on?" he asked. Everything he did continued circling this ending for him, and he wasn’t going to walk away from it all. Not after all he’s been through to get this close.

“You know what. All my life I have done everything I could to make you both proud. I have forgiven you over and over. I have tried to be the man you desired even with my own goals and wants in life. I am tired Mother. You have burned me down, and I can’t win! I don’t want anything more–”

“What does that mean?” and it was her turn to appear angry, tears falling down her cheeks and lips turned into a barely contained snarl. Tooru frowned in reply.

“You are going to fail–” she added breathlessly. Tooru's steps paused by the door, his back to his mom. “I will have to bury you! It won’t matter how hard you worked on this! Whatever your plan is. Whatever this power is you seek to obtain, and whatever this obsession in defeating Shiratorizawa is! It will matter not when you are dead.”

Tooru closed his eyes. Nothing mattered anyway. No one got it. No one asked. No one cared to realize the grief already plaguing him because he knew deep down losing Hajime had been wrong. It had been the day perspective changed, festering this darkness and magic in ways he's never been able to harness before. But he was in too deep now. Because no one understood the depth of his feelings, he so eloquently destroyed. All that was left was power to protect his Kingdom.

Tears burned his eyes and fell down his cheeks. The risk mattered little. Tooru didn’t care anymore about himself. He wiped his cheek, releasing a shaky exhale.

“I will find a way to win. If that means seeking help so be it. If it means presenting a threat that I can't yet control to scare my enemies-- then so be it! Goodbye mother, both of you get out of my Kingdom. Don't ever-- I mean ever return,"

\-- _current_

  
Tooru trembled in anger while he looked at the chaos once more taking over his city. Another memory. One that kept plaguing him just as all the others he's so conveniently placed in the furthest parts of his mind had resurfaced because of it. He had kept it a secret beyond what happened with Hajime-- this one involving his parents who had learned of things they shouldn't have. Tooru couldn't have been so cruel back then, had he? To push everyone away while believing he was something superior and Grand. He felt foolish-- and tired of everything. But it was a reality to his person he was seeing. He hated it, and it was this motivation he was using right now.

"Don't my liege," Matsun's hand was on his shoulder to keep him from running into the fight. Tooru was five steps into the fray of combat before stopped.

"We have to help them," he breathlessly responded when smoke began billowing into the streets. Tooru had to keep his focus because the original fight was leaking into the subconscious, reminding him of his death and how he had failed before. Those emotions couldn't be faced yet.

"They have it," Kuroo said quickly nodding towards two people he hadn't been prepared to see. His parents were battling four creatures who appeared as shadowed ghosts which wielded daggered with ebony carvings that glowed blue. They were using their magic in front of everyone, and his mind went nearly blank at the spectacle.

"Let them fight, we need to find this Tanaka," one of the Faun's spoke, but Tooru missed who. Only felt a grip on his wrist drag him down a street where objects floated freely with a breath of magical assistance. Everywhere he looked was magic, it had been here all along, and he never once knew its overlay was so easily integrated with his Kingdom.

He peered back to see his parents laughing in glee to bottling a shadowed ghost, his Father's hands sticking out and upward as he belted a loud victory chant. The people around them didn't seem fazed the previous rulers were there at all. Had they been involved with this community the entire time? His Mother seemed excited, almost youthful as she threw various potions to the ground below another shadow monster and it hardened from its contents like dried clay.

"Kuroo, did you know my parents were involved here?" Tooru moved down another alleyway, back forced to the wall while more people ran by into the fray of combat. Even though enchanted with an illusion spell to hide his appearance the Fauns wanted to be careful. Kuroo peered down the street, sword expertly held out in a fighting stance.

"I didn't, I've never seen them here before,"

"You messed up the timeline," Matsukawa reminded, and Tooru peered up to his companion. "What happened before is already rewritten."

"I banished them from the Kingdom a few months ago, but they stayed anyway. I am missing, I wonder if they are looking for me," Tooru sighed, "I hope I can see them again and apologize."

"You are ridiculously adorable when you aren't a pompous ass," Makki chuckled, and Tooru narrowed his eyes in mild anger to the directness. The Faun lifted his hands in fake surrender.

"Hinata said all of the Raven Lords followers were cut down, things are different now like I said-- but I think the biggest piece is that this Shadow Necromancer has enough power to fight immortal warlocks, and clearly has access to portals. That was how they got to the tavern so quick," Matsu started down this alley with careful steps. It was quiet down this way; the fires had caused most of the smoke to float upward making the sky twisted in grays. They followed the Faun in a single file line.

"Why does this Necromancer have a beef with you?" Kuroo asked.

Tooru stopped walking. All he could see was his parents fighting in his head, how they seemed to be having fun as if they knew something more. The Necromancer had appeared to know him particularly, even when Tooru hadn't seen them before-- unless he had and never realized it. His heart was pounding fast, fists curled tightly by his sides, and his shoulders slumped in minor defeat to his knowing thoughts.

Once more this was his fault.

"Those shadow monsters are from another realm. I know because I formerly opened a portal there," Tooru's lip snarled at his stupidity. "I was caught up in defeating King Ushijima nationally; I wanted to watch everything he worked for crumble at his feet. The only way those monsters exist right now-- is if the Shadow Necromancer has my Grimmiore."

"Shit--" The Fauns looked genuinely concerned now.

"You opened a portal to Hell?" Matsun palmed his face, "my King-- please tell me this is some kind joke."

"No, I did. It didn't last, it opened and instantly closed. I wasn't strong enough to maintain it. But my theories and spell worked, but in the end, I never perfected it. King Ushijima still attacked, and well we all know what happened. My Kingdom was raided, and I died,"

Tooru pushed past everyone to march down the alleyway in the front, they all trailed behind him in a terrible silence. Tooru was realizing more and more that he was the cause of this Necromancer. Every step he had been taking to be the best King had only lead to the huge downfall and the creation of an enemy.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Bokoku landed on Tooru's shoulder, and the King peered at the yellowed eyed owl.

"I don't have a good reason," he admitted just when the wall ahead blasted apart and shattered on the ground. A mass of black feathers and a man collided into the wall on the other side. It was as if in slow motion, the shadowed monster flickered in and out of view; it's shapes distorted like it was struggling to stay in this realm inches from Tooru not having realized their presence in the space. Tooru reached out and sunk his hand into the shadowed creature, it was freezing and began molting his skin to a grayed hue. With a flicker of light in his eyes, a violent turret of electricity flew through the monster inflaming it into nothingness.

"Oy! That was incredible!" The feathered warlock's voice slipped casually from the ground. He noticed immediately that his arm laid broken at a discerning angle. It made Tooru's stomach ache in nauseousness. "I can see through that charm of yours. It's a decent spell though-- Hello, King Oikawa."

"Tanaka?"

"Yep!" he smiled wide, sharp teeth and a bright blush to his cheeks with full confidence.

"Hinata told us to find you," Tooru nodded towards Kuroo who ran over to the fallen warlock and helped him up.

"Ah, yeah. Well-- good thing were immortal because this Necromancer is the real deal! Ha! Ha! He cut my entire flock down, except me! Ha! Ha! Ha! Couldn't catch me," Tanaka was putting on some bravado, but Tooru could tell he was using it to hide the anger and grief he likely felt. Tanaka held his arm close to his side while he rose. Black feathers wrapped around him like a large wing, actually-- Tanaka did have wings now that Tooru got a better look at all of him.

Tanaka caught his wandering gaze, flicking his thumb towards his chest and offering a mild bow.

"Neat yeah? I'm a winged-spiker as they like to call me. I usually fight in the air, being grounded has been a new way of fighting for me," Tanaka stood straight, folding the wings, so they nestled close to his back but were clearly still remarkable. His impressively sculpted bare chest showed off an array of tattoos in protective runes, and Tooru recognized that Kageyama had ones similar when he had performed the location spell and saw him on that table.

"Hinata said to look for me; I knew he'd find you even with his injury," Tanaka clasped his fist on the arm not broken, appearing even more fired up while he rolled the bone into a better positioning. The crack had Tooru's skin pale, and Akaashi brought the warlock a potion to help with the pain. Tanaka took it graciously. "I know where the shadow monsters are coming from-- but I can't interfere more than finding it and offering assistance. Gotta be a team to take them on."

"Do you know about this Necromancer stealing magic?" Kuroo interrupted, and the raven peered over with a nod. Tooru wanted to snap that it wasn't the primary concern right now, but when he glared daggers at the other man, he realized how unfair that was.

"Oy boy-- you got yours taken, and you are still alive? Luckyyyyy. But yep! It's not just these folks they are stealing magic from, but they are taking lives from all over the timeline to power themselves up. Whoever they are have been jumping around using portals and adding to their magic with others to maintain it," Tanaka was hiding something, Tooru could see he was holding back on his information and just like his parents having fun while battling there was some big thing everyone knew but wasn't telling him about. Was it that they couldn't? Did they know who the Shadow Necromancer was?

"It's pretty dark stuff-- we have never seen something so driven before. It's like a black hole, agony-- no end in sight," Tanaka sighed.

"So they are using my Grimoire," Tooru gritted his teeth in frustration. "Show us where, please. I want to put an end to these monsters. There has to be a portal open they are coming from."

Tanaka smiled wildly at the challenge and promised fight. "That's the King we know and love, alrighty! Let's go!"

They headed through the city. Tooru claimed he knew this place like the back of his hand. This magical part of the community had been nestled right in the mists of it, glamoured and hidden away from anyone without magic and protected against ones with that they didn't want to have access to. Tooru speculated he'd have likely destroyed it back then. He had treated Hajime with such jealousy when he found out his common self could bend water. Would he have done exactly what Kuroo feared?

"You will win," Tanaka said with certainty, pulling him out of his head. The raven was grinning, and though his arm was now black and blue from the break and sweat was dotted along his shaved hairline-- he seemed confident beyond the upcoming fight that it would work out. "All my brothers wouldn't have dove down to fight for you, especially Kageyama-- if they didn't think you stood a chance. Believe in yourself. You are not alone."

Tooru felt his heart swell with appreciation, and he nodded without adding anything negative to it.

They approached a street with flower boxes on every window sill. Glass gems found from the many streams and ocean beaches were strung up in beautiful decor along with the tightly knitted houses painted in dark blues and bright whites. Hajime's parent's house was just there on the corner with a bronze number six hammered into the door. The farm was over the small hill as they broke from the city limit and into the countryside. The walk was nostalgic for many reasons. Good memories. Ones that Tooru missed so much it hurt.

"There," Tanaka pointed towards the familiar barn which seemed undisturbed since last he's seen it. The Iwaizumi's took amazing care of their property even after Hajime went missing.

"It seems fine--" Kuroo spoke the obvious, and Bokoku hooted to agree.

"It's not--" Akaashi flew up and took to the sky. "Be ready for battle."

The second the words left his familiar's mouth they stepped through what felt like a veil. They all shivered as the ward passed by and revealed something akin to Hell before them. The world was grayed and distorted; the red barn appeared decayed with black ooze dripping from various knots in the wood. The trees and grass retained no hue even as the world outside the bubble was lush.

It was beyond anything Tooru's mind could comprehend. Terrifying and confusing.

Shadows pulled from various sources when they moved into the center. The double barn doors remained closed through the entire building; it seemed all of it was encased in this domed ward. There was enough space to move around in front of the building, so they fanned out to get a better look around. It was then Kuroo noticed first, that the shadows were forming into monsters and not moving with the sun above. They floated above the ground, their bodies twitching into various shapes. Fog swept under their forms to keep their manifestation distorted. In a matter of seconds, the group was surrounded by the hundreds.

"Why here," he said to himself. Spinning in a small circle while the group gathered in readiness. "Why here," he repeated, drawing his magic into the palm of his hands, lightning arced between his finger tips. The Fauns were side by side, potions in their hands just like his Mother had been. Kuroo had already engaged with Bokoku who had taken off with the other and began swirling wind magic around the shadow to force it into a better shape that could be struck with the sword. The object went right through.

The battle broke out immediately, and Tooru lost track of who was where as the grayed world ensnared them in what looked like limbo. It flooded with hundreds of shadow monsters who wielded daggers with that same blue light and others exposing large eyes and sharp white teeth. Electricity arced to blast several of the summoned creatures– their ashes were filling the area with teal dust.

The charms hiding who he was broke apart like shattered glass and the effect had his entire party pause for a second to admire him. Because before everyone was the man he was supposed to be from the start, his clothes were ordinary, but his determination leaked out in fearful delivery to his status. He appeared as the Grand Lightning King should have from the start but had to journey through these events to arrive at it.

Darkness plunged around them all like spilled ink from the sheer numbers. Threatening to consume the entire warded dome around the barn into a pitched nothingness. His friends were screaming as daggers cut them. The world dimmed to the point Tooru couldn’t see anything around him– so he grasped the last of the light in the very palm of his hand. Throwing it towards the door wordlessly casting an energetic sun burst spell.

Teal light pulsed and the object glowed like the sun, and Tooru stepped bravely closer to the door, allowing himself to be illuminated in the light so he could harness its energy to dispell all these monsters in one go. He had a better visual of what was happening now encased in light.

Kuroo and his familiars were gathering them up, allowing themselves to be chased as bait and luring a majority into one location. Tanaka was in the sky, his wings were spectacular, and he launched sticky balls of magic that latched to the monsters forcing them unable to move while he sliced through them with a magical weapon.

The Fauns-- they were beyond impressive and for another second Tooru realized how much he missed their potential. They were bottling the creatures up using various potions and magical weapons. Not once were their movements out of sync and it was unreal to watch these two joking Fauns fight with such calmness. Even as he saw the wounds on their bodies bubble with blood, and pain etched their brows into deep pinches.

Tooru released a soft breath and closed his eyes. His Mother had claimed back then she had wanted balance. It had been why she showed him that book of spells with the dark magic. She had wanted him to understand he needed both. The light magic reached out and struck his back while standing before the door; forcing it to mesh and combine with his magic to the point the warlock started convulsing from the intensity of it.

Tooru always over did everything, he didn't do it because he didn't care about his well being, but he knew he could take the pain that came with hard work and effort. Tooru grinned, he could do this. Slowly he pulled his hands apart and the hinge of his elbows spread open with his shoulders as if they were wings like Tanaka's. Tooru leaned forward, eyes on the gathered shadowed creatures.

Teal burned in his eyes, small arcs of electricity ran up and down his limbs and wrapped around his feet as it grounded into the soil. His hair stood up on end, floating in both telekinesis and the static from his charge. The door behind him powered up with the spell of sunlight seeped into him until he was the one looking about to explode. All his focus was on the shadows, not wanting to hurt anyone else here. He released it like a snapped whip– sunlight and electricity launched out, striking in multiple places with a resounding blast from the sound barrier breaking over and over until there were only black smudges on the grass.

Kuroo was stunned at the display, just stopping his footing before the position before him struck to ash in a stain of burned power. The entire warded dome filled with light and Tooru staggered forward in exhaustion and landed face first from the intensity of the spell. The grayed grass felt soft on his face, and he could hear the vibrations from his companion voices and steps through the soils. He lifted his head to see them holding his arms and hands. All of them appearing scared over excited.

"PULL!" they were yelling, and Tooru realized that his legs were encased in the last of the darkness, a portal opening from the door with shadowed hands latched onto his ankles and curling up his calves.

"AHH!" a screech tore out of him as the shadows didn't just capture and pull against him, but were seeping into his very body, tangling with his magic and blood. Kuroo took his sword and stuck the door to the barn, attempting to break the wood. Matsun did the same as Hanamaki held onto him with all his strength, hooves burrowing into the ground as Tooru's body was consumed more into the portal.

"DON'T LET GO!" fear permeated him as those tentacles of magic raced up his back and wrapped around his forearms and along with his neck, tilting his neck back in exposure and restraint. The wood of the door was splintering, but he couldn't help them. His magic needed a moment to recharge unless that had been the point? Had the Necromancer known he'd do that spell?

"I won't! I won't--" Makki's eyes were wide, and it was impossible not to see what was going to happen. Tanaka was in the sky behind them all, floating with his wings to remain still for a moment of suspension before he dives bombed, sword drawn. The object illuminated in purple fire, and the raven began slicing the last of the monsters, their screams became the backdrop to the wood being blasted apart behind him.

And yet the world narrowed for Tooru as the darkness covered his entire lower half, and then his abdomen. It felt slowed down, whispered met his ears, distorted sounds that made him feel weak internally.

"Let me go--" he whispered as Hanamaki's grip began to slip when the corruption pushed against his friend's fingers. Hopelessness engulfed him as more decay filled him, and he gasped at the pain.

"No!" Bokoku landed in the darkness, pecking at it once as his body was quickly lifted and thrown. Akaashi was standing in the grasses as Tooru's vision dimmed, the shadows slipped up his neck, wrapped around the crown of his head like he was drifting under in quicksand.

The door exploded, and everything dispersed instantly. Kuroo was panting in exhaustion, blood from the splintered door had cut his arms and caused small lines on his face to bleed. Tooru was still on the grass, face now on the cooling surface. The ward flickered then dropped, the portal summoning the shadow monsters dispelled entirely leaving the area back to its normal state. Color and all.

"Are you okay?" he was asked, Matsukawa was pulling Tooru up so far that his feet didn't touch the ground. His head lulled a little, but he found a smile in victory.

"Yes?"

"Good! Don't do that ever again!" he was yelled at, the tendons in the Faun's neck jumped and shoulders muscles tensed. He's never seen him so mad before. Usually, his lazy eyes always gave him a tired appearance but right now there was a visible tremble through his entire body from anger and worry etched new expressions into the Faun's face.

"Do what?" Tooru whispered because it was all he could manage.

"Give up!" The Faun was angry, and Tooru's chest caved at the exposed emotion.

"I'm sorry--"

"You should be! We knew him! Iwaizumi was our friend! You-- you!"

"I what--" Tooru was set down, and Matsukawa stepped back as if he had spoken things he shouldn't have. "What aren't you telling me?"

Tanaka landed behind Matsukawa, and Makki stood by his friend, placing his arm around his shoulders. Everyone was quiet again; allowing them to hear the fighting had stopped in the far distance of the city. It was as if it had been some dream. Clouds peeked out in the now blue sky; it even smelled fresh like the countryside.

"Don't, calm down--" Hanamaki had his arms completely around the other in a tight embrace, because Matsun was shaking.

"Think you, idiot!" Matsu roared, and it was so discerning to even Makki he was trying to turn his friends face to look at him instead of Tooru. As if removing his sight would calm him down.

"Think--" he lifted a finger to his lips, Kuroo slid down on the ground as exhaustion fully kicked in from the fight and breaking apart the portal. Tooru glanced at the man who came to help him fight a battle without question even after Kuroo's magic had been stolen. Which meant the Shadow Necromancer needed this power right then. Had it been for this portal?

"Let him work it out on his time," Tanaka firmly pat Tooru's arm which took him once more out of his head. He rested the sword on his shoulder and appeared battle worn but willing to continue even with a broken arm hung limply by his side.

"I need to find Kageyama, whatever information the Shadow Necromancer thinks he has they won't be able to obtain from his stubborn, loyal self. But I don't want him tortured anymore. We can't rest, I am afraid we have to save him now-- I need the King and you both to open the gate."

Everyone was quiet again, Tooru's breathing labored from the attack and fight, but he nodded in understanding. Tanaka nodded behind him, and he turned with everyone else following the movement. In the barn was a magical gate, blue lights curled around the edges of an oversized bronze picture frame. Water webbed with darkness made the center gate look like it would have you step right into the deepest parts of the ocean.

"Kuroo-- you can,"

"I'm coming," he said wobbling up. Tooru nodded, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Where does this take us?"

"You know, don't you? You performed the spell didn't you?" Tanaka said intentionally, and his smirk made Tooru fearful of what all this immortal warlock knew about him.

"Which one," he asked moving towards the gate which immediately reacted to the Faun's who were talking in whispers between themselves.

"The location spell, do you feel it?" Tanaka was right. The spell he had performed to find Hajime felt sure that this was a way there. Which meant-- he glanced down at his finger. There leading into the abyss was a golden thread tinged in subtle red. Hajime was there. He shivered. All this time he had believed he'd stop this all from happening and yet the Raven Lord had placed him after the fact. And for days he had been sure he'd rescue Hajime and right everything.

But what if Hajime didn't forgive him? What if they could never fix their bond, their soulmate string? What if he's too late.

"You get lost in thought a lot," Tanaka had struck his forehead with his hand slanted upward and Tooru rubbed the now red spot. The Raven shook his head and walked to the gate. "I am here only for Kageyama; we can not help you anymore." His warning was understood, and Tooru nodded.

"Alright, do your best!" Tanaka's words disappeared into the gate as they all one by one crossed through it.


	7. Break Through the Illusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We learn who the Shadow Necromancer is and how they were created. As well as, how terrible and extensive this curse became and how it affected everyone he cared about-- including himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Being a person who has PTSD and had to have professional help to remember large blocks of my life too traumatic to recall, I can reassure you that Tooru has been an unreliable narrator from the start for this very reason. This chapter is going to completely bring to light what happened that day he cast that spell severing his soulmate string with Hajime, things that seemed to make sense to him in the past chapters will be incredibly wrong. If you have any confusion over this moment, let me know! Either way, enjoy! We have hit the height of the plot arc, and I am looking forward to writing the new person who joins the team!

Tooru, surrounded by water and floating in a suspension, had his eyes fearfully open to the view. He instinctively held his breath, cheeks puffed out and the strain of pressure along his ribs began to vibrate in want to decompress. He seemed alone, lost in time and space-- the water cold. Tooru glanced up to work out if those beams of light were up or down, it was hard to tell and he couldn't remember what Hajime had said about figuring it out.

It was likely because Hajime was always with him in the water. Splashing Tooru because he could with just a simple flick of his hands, jokingly causing the pair to fall into the deeper waters from high cliffs where he'd panic if Tooru were underwater for too long. He had to admit he liked being rescued by Hajime, even if he was faking it-- the firm grip along his wrist pulling him up had always sent his skin aflame.

He blinked, closing his eyes in a delirious desire to wait and see if said hand would pierce the surface and take hold of him. He raised his left arm up, reaching in the direction he hoped was the correct one. But nothing happened. Not at first.

"Tooru--" the words echoed in his mind, and he released a shocking burst of bubbles from his mouth that he clamped shut with his palm.

"Hajime!" he sent back, now swimming in the direction he prayed was up. His long legs kicked and propelled him faster, arms plunging to the sides and forcing his momentum to its peak.

Hajime spoke again, "Don't be tricked."

"Tricked how?" he broke the surface, his lungs aching in their expansion to accommodate fresh air. At the same time, all his companions also burst through, gasping much like he had-- even though he hadn't seen them underwater. He started swimming, hooking his arm around Tanaka whose wings were weighing him down along with the broken arm making it near impossible to swim. They all worked together to get to the rocky edge of what appeared to be a small island.

Tooru peered up at the mountain before them, purple and dark slate grays meshed together in jagged gothic style. Lights flickered in various locations along where the building protruded out of the ground and sides of the mountain. Glancing back and forth on the shore, it was evident the place was small in size but grand in vertical projection. The mountain wasn't just an eco-feature, it was the castle.

"Everyone okay?" Makki asked, pulling Tanaka up on his feet. The raven extended his wings and shook out most of the water. Akaashi and Bokoku were puffed up like little weeds, soaked through to their undercoat. Tooru couldn't offer any magical aid in drying his companions, if anything, they were in more danger around him and his electricity if he were to mess up a spell.

Did he say something about hearing Hajime? He watched the group rally their supplies on the rocky shores, the water from the ocean was out many kilometers the waves not reaching the coves rounded design as harsh as what he could hear around the bend. It was peaceful he realized. Oddly. Glancing up the stars were sparkling without obstruction. Nightfall was here. Where ever they were, they were across the world.

"King Oikawa--" a hand was waving in front of his face, and he blinked rapidly to focus on the Faun. Hanamaki frowned.

"Do you know this place?" he was asked again, and Tooru peered over towards the castle blended perfectly into the landscape.

"No-- but it feels like I should," he turned once more to face the cove, almost expecting mermaids to show themselves on the rocks protruding from its center. It seemed familiar, like from a fairytale or story once told. Was it though? And at that moment a splash sent small waves up to towards them. Kuroo had his sword drawn and took to stand in front of Tooru who gasped in minor surprise.

Hair showed on the surface, then a face, shoulders, then a long bare back. The mermaid pulled herself up on the rock, not facing them but looking out at the ocean in a longing way. Oikawa couldn't breathe abruptly-- Hajime had said in his head not to be tricked.

"She's going to sing," an out of tune voice slipped through the cove at that very mention, and not any voice-- but a young Tooru's. Her back remained to them all, long chestnut hair braided into the water from the length.

"Is that your voice?" Bokoku asked, flying to land on Tooru's shoulder. "Wait-- I remember that song. You and Hajime use to sing it to each other."

Tooru's chest ached.

"I admitted one night that of any mythical creature I'd want to be a mermaid so we could better enjoy the water together. With my electricity magic I was always scared to swim with him," he closed his eyes, exhaling slowly. "Hajime spoke to my mind while I was underwater, he said not to be tricked."

"Iwaizumi talked to you?" Akaashi pecked at his feathers under his wing, pulling out a piece of seaweed with obvious annoyance. "This could all very well be an illusion-- though it would take a lot of power to maintain it."

A guttural scream tore through an opened window high up in one of the towers; it sounded like someone was choking-- the sound desperate and strained in delivery but tapering off as if the breath was being slowly cut off. Tanaka flew off immediately, the wind from the exit sending all of them toppling over. Tooru made himself float to avoid face planting into the sands.

"There is a door there," he said from the higher height, pointing in that direction. "Will you three enter that way? I'm going with Tanaka." Tooru watched as Tanaka flew right into the window and a fight broke out immediately, shouts echoed against the hard stones.

"Go!" Kuroo yelled, running towards the door where the Fauns joined. Tooru and his familiar flew up and landed near the jutted rock to peer into the room. It was empty.

"You see this right?" Tooru asked his companions. Bokoku hooted.

"This was the correct one right?" Tooru peered back, attempting to see another window but this was the only one he could make out clearly.

"It is-- be cautious. I'm worried about Iwaizumi having spoken to you. He never had that power before," Akaashi said, Tooru agreed it was a skill he mastered having telekinesis but never Hajime. He pushed up through the window, and the room remained the same as seen.

It was a bedroom, littered with various debris as if abandoned. The sheets were stained with old blood, curled to a rusty brown.

"This feels familiar as the other things," Tooru was racking his brain.

"This is from that book Hajime's mother gave you for your birthday, the one with the murder mystery and the two heroes who figure it out," Akaashi landed near the bed, inspecting it.

"Where is Tanaka then?" the room flickered when Akaashi hammered his beak into the sheets, it was one hell of an illusion-- but the particles bent around the light of the room to reveal that it wasn't what was there. Tanaka came into view than as an overlay, Tooru shot a spark against the wall to bend the illusion again. Tanaka was fighting something right in front of them, but he couldn't see them, the shadows were of the same monsters they had fought near the barn, but they were crawling up Tanaka's legs, seeping into his wings until they weighed down.

"Stop!" Tooru gathered a ball of electricity and launched it right at Tanaka's feet, but the illusion they were trapped in absorbed the impact. The raven caught his eye though, and surprise made him rise and spread out his wings to shake the monsters off.

"We should leave this room," Akaashi said, flying towards the door. "He knows, and I don't think it a good idea to keep hitting the illusion. It's obvious the Necromancer wants you to see these things, Tanaka can handle himself. Trust in your team my King."

Tooru's hands started to sweat in nerves, and it caused for sparks to ignite the droplets like small fireworks. Bokoku pecked his ear making him yelp.

"Listen to Akaashi," Bokoku said, yellow orbs full and oddly anger under the surface. Tooru nodded and ran out the door. When they crossed over, they weren't in a hallway of a castle as expected.

"Why are they doing this? Did they pull these memories from Hajime?" Tooru asked no one in particular as he took in the sight of faceless people dancing in a grand ballroom that was close to the one from his castle. It was like a music box had been opened, and they were placed inside it, the songs from no source filled the room in a beautiful melody. All the people spun and lifted their partners, though faceless, it was obvious this was the world he came from. Their expensive clothes and powdered faces.

Akaashi landed on the banister and Bokoku joined him. The two seemed off to Tooru who took their advice seriously and never once felt they would lead him the wrong way. But as they watched the scene below their balcony vantage point he couldn't help but think they looked sad.

A door opened on the far corner, and the Fauns with Kuroo waltzed in. They were appearing cautious but didn't seem to see the illusion of the dancers they were walking through. Tooru made to yell, but Bokoku nipped at his wrist to shut him up.

"Everything is abandoned--" Kuroo's voice floated up towards them, echoing over the music as if the place was empty and allowed for the strong echo to happen. He paused in the middle looking around the space.

"There is evidence of someone being here, that one room had been stayed in for a while," Makki said thoughtfully. Is was discerning to watch the dancers move around them, like their apparitions were ghosts exposing a different reality altogether.

"We need to get to the upper floor-- wait did you hear that?" Matsu held his shield forward, and the ceiling broke apart with a pair of black wings as Tanaka was throw through it. The chandelier from Tooru's point of view was glorious in golds and bright candles, but when it collided with the ground, the illusion bent like the other room, revealing its old state as it shattered on the ground.

Tanaka roared in anger, landing perfectly only to bend his knees and jump back up through the ceiling. Who was he fighting?

"We need to go," Akaashi took flight and started down the hallway, Tooru didn't understand. He opened his mouth to speak but Bokoku interrupted him.

"Sire, just think before you speak--"

Matsu's same words echoed in his mind. A crackle of energy filled the room with purple light. He couldn't help himself; he peered over the railing to watch Kuroo taking the soul gem fragments and began slamming them to the ground. Their released pieces of souls granted him some power-- or maybe the necromancer hadn't taken it all? Or was it recharging the warlock? Kuroo's smile was something akin to a child in a bakery; he gathered the smoke from the cracked gems in his palms. It seeped into his skin and crackled with red magic. The Fauns were fighting shadow monsters, their faceless bodies contorting out of the hole Tanaka had made in the ceiling and spilling out like tar.

Kuroo slammed his hands together, and the entire room shook. Debris fell from the damage, Tanaka was flying expertly around the large stone pieces cascading down. The Faun's lifted their shields to protect Kuroo, but the tremors intensified in one spot of the room, the floor caving in and transmuting into quicksand. The shadow monsters couldn't get out of the floor, their bodies contorted and stretched to escape but Kuroo held them in place. Tanaka's whoop took over all the music that Tooru was still hearing and swooped down in a nose dive to cut the monsters through. His weapon ignited them in a fire, and they exploded into a mess along the floor.

"Kuroo is amazing," Tooru said, and Akaashi nodded.

"He was supposed to be a knight of yours," came a voice from the darkness, the Necromancer's hooded body, materialized from nothing.

"A what?" Tooru spun around, pointing his wand at them.

"You are here to fix all this? You said so, I believe you. What you haven't realized is that fate wants to repair itself in any way it can. You were supposed to appoint that warlock as a knight, as was those called Kenma and Lev was apart of your original timeline. I am glad you brought him to me again. I had expected removing his magic was enough, but here he is--"

"Don't touch him!" Tooru shot a spell through his wand, the arc of white light struck the spot where the Necromancer had been standing but was visibly gone. He peered over and shouted for Kuroo and the Fauns, but they were celebrating their minor victory. Patting his shoulders and Tanaka was laughing with proud delivery to Kuroo using the soul gems to power up his what was thought, lost magic.

"Be gone," Tooru heard the hoarse voice from his side and saw Akaashi and Bokoku on the ground. He ran over to them, but his hands went right through them.

"I'm sure your friends will find them, they are heading up if their progression is anything to go by," Tooru looked to his left and saw the Necromancer reform.

"Who are you?" he asked, rising as the illusion shifted and changed around him, a pressure in his gut made it feel like he was traveling through the darkness. All the voices of his companions disappeared, visually it transformed into the room he had seen before through Hajime's eyes. Kageyama was on a table, bound in various leather restraints with glowing runes across their arches. The raven was in bad shape, Tooru could hear him wheezing for air through his unconscious state.

"Who am I? Have they not told you?" the voice was distorted, like an echo trapped in the chamber. He couldn't recognize it; he didn't know and who knew? The Raven's? The Fauns? Everyone but him?

"I don't know--" he admitted, Tooru was scared now, he had the instinct to fight his way out of this, but the more he looked around the room things kept changing. The illusion around him was like a hologram into his past lives-- lives he's never seen before. A volleyball game surfaced in the far corner that he did remember. Tooru with his tongue out as he tossed a ball and launched it down on the court, he saw Hajime by the net, hands cradled to the back of his head.

"What is this?" he asked, "why are you showing me these things?" Tooru made to move towards Kageyama, and the Necromancer let him. The robes they had on weren't made of any fabric, their smoke formed along the edges, masking most of their skin. They looked like a reaper.

"I traveled to all those timelines; no matter what I did, I destroyed us in all of them,"

"Us?" Tooru's skin drew cold, the knot in his throat constricted any additional words.

A huff, then the hood pulled back revealing spiky hair then a distorted familiar face.

"Hajime--" Tooru gasped because it wasn't him. His skin was gray, molted in decay causing patched on his forehead and cheeks to crack like a mummy. Hajime's eyes were a blood red in the iris' and black where it should be white; even his teeth were sharpened-- demonic. Tooru had made it to Kageyama, his trembling hands trying to undo the binds while his brain refused to believe it.

"You are not him!" he shouted to be sure he didn't fall for this, with a draw of his wand he tapped the leather and they split apart from the small bolt of lightning, smoke trailed up from each point. He lifted Kageyama up, pulling him to his chest so he could slide him off the stone table. His friends will be here soon, they will find him.

A whimper slipped from the room. It was subtle and familiar. Tooru peered up over the edge of the table which he was using as a temporary shield from the Necromancer when he saw Hajime tied up in the center of the room. It was unreal. Chains were connected to each of his ankles and wrists, forcing him in a suspension above the ground. Tooru couldn't believe the bruises he could see around his joints, they were black and discolored as if they had been dislocated for longer than should be humanly possible.

He parted his lips, panting he realized as panic swelled in his chest to the point he was hyperventilating-- because that wasn't the Hajime he once knew from the past. He was in a volleyball uniform from the future.

"The only timeline that was successful in letting me take one when the Raven Lord interfered and traveled you back," the Necromancer snapped his fingers and Kageyama disappeared from his grasp and was now being held to the chest of the enemy. His head lulled down, limbs dead weight as the arm across his shoulders controlled his upward stance.

It was discerning to see two Hajimes in the same room, but Tooru didn't want to believe the Necromancer was Hajime because they had said it was impossible to do. That two of the same soul couldn't exist in the same plane of existence. It had been why he took over the Tooru in that timeline, why when he returned this one the Tooru in the castle had disappeared. He had seen through Hajime's eyes when he performed the locating spell, he had known without a doubt that it was him.

"It's how I got my hands on this one as well," Kageyama was still unresponsive, and Tooru didn't know what to do, he was standing there stunned into silence and frozen in place.

"Speechless? Fine, I'll give it away then-- this is the last one," the Necromancer's features rippled into smoke, the illusion of being Hajime gone from view for the most part but it was oddly evident it still looked like him.

"The last one?" Tooru asked, swallowing down his nerves.

"The last Hajime Iwaizumi in existence, the soul is immortal you know? But after lifetimes of me interposing I can say this soul is spent-- the last of its energy is within him. I'm going to consume it, and then all really is lost."

"I DIDN'T WANT THIS!" Tooru's hands burst into light, lines of magic carved up his forearms burned from the shadow monsters before. It licked up his feet causing arcs to strike the floor around him.

"Your words of the spell exactly," a book appeared, the lost grimoire. "I summon the elements to aid me. I invoke the power of fire to weaken,"

Hajime strung up screamed. Fire flew up under him as a mighty torrent, just enough to heat the stone room to unbearable temperatures. Tooru ran for him--

"Strength of earth to destroy,"

The ground trembled under his feet, sending him tripping onto the stone. Tooru pushed up with his palm, using his telekinesis to strike the chains on Hajime’s hands in hopes to sever them. The wards of the runes reflected it back on him, making his body fly backward away from Hajime. The ceiling protruded out in long stone poles, extending down until their tips pierced through both his shoulders, Hajime coughed blood.

"Power of wind to reveal; Energy of water to preserve,"

Tooru knew the words. He had spoken them before when he was severing their soulmate string, but this hadn't happened. Hajime had been screaming in anger over Tooru performing it without his consent, having needed many guards to hold him still so he didn't miss. But all that had happened was their string frayed-- it had been anticlimactic actually-- he ordered Hajime away, and then he became King...

His heart skipped a beat, and then the scene before him triggered it to remember accurately. Hajime wasn't yelling in anger, he was screaming in the memory. The blood-- the shock on everyone's faces as Tooru continued to chant the spell. The world around them had shifted and morphed into a nightmarish place-- and when it struck their string had frayed yes-- but the power behind the spell had spun the world into darkness, and he remembered the shadow caught up in it. How it blinked red eyes so familiar before it was swept up in the shadows.

Hajime's cried out for Tooru in the present-- it snapped him out of the real repressed memory to bring the room racing back to focus. He gasped and moved his wand forward, drawing a rune in the air. It flickered teal, and then he pressed his hand into it, forcing the power through the glowing rune to wrap Hajime suspended in those chains to be encased in an electricity bubble and ward. Tooru almost passed out from everything-- his heart was racing, and he felt delirious in grief.

A boot caught his ribs, and the Necromancer kicked him again until he landed harshly on the ground. Fingers wrapped around his front shirt and he was pulled up to look at them, Hajime's face was inches from his own-- but corruption continued to crack his skin and allow smoke to fall from the fissures.

"It is you," Tooru's lips trembled, and something in Hajime's red eyes flashed green.

"It isn't, I'm dead," the Necromancer growled, sharp teeth snapping in anger. Tooru knew it. He knew _his_ Hajime was still gone--

"I messed up," it was a stupid thing to admit, but Tooru didn't know what else to say.

"You came here to fix this-- you are too late. I have destroyed every link of us! It's what you wanted! So I did it, I took away everything. I killed anyone who could help you; I aided any person who could destroy you," Hajime's skin hissed in places, peeling away to reveal new muscles. It was a horrible fate Tooru realized, what had he truly done to him?

A blast near by sent the wall apart and the Fauns galloped in with potions in hand, throwing them towards the ground to disorient the Necromancer. They removed their form into smoke and traveled towards the center of the space; a rune ignited in the stone, blue light filled out crevices carved on the surface. The light connected in points under their feet and when it joined a circle on the outer ring light blew up the wall edges and encased them in a bubbled ward much like the one they had seen around the barn.

Tooru was pulled up by Tanaka, Kuroo had run over to Kageyama who had been tossed carelessly on the floor. Tanaka nearly shouted when he saw his fallen brother and made to wrap his wings and arms around him when Kuroo brought him closer. In an instant it seemed time stilled, every particle of debris from the start of the severing spell froze in the air. Everything crawled until it stopped altogether. Tooru realized Kageyama's hand was up, blood coated down his head and from his nose.

Only they were the only ones moving. Everyone, including the electricity arcs around the future Hajime, remained stalled in arcs.

"Kageyama--" Tooru turned to look at the hurt Raven; the other huffed in annoyance.

"Shut up-- time is fickle and confusing, but I am a genius setter for a good reason,"

"A what?" Tooru watched Kageyama pull himself from Tanaka's tight grip and staggered a bit before finding his two feet in balance. He rose up, shaking in pain.

"A setter, I can pinpoint time and travel there if necessary, its how I found you before. But I'm not supposed to in such a way, that spell you performed had dire consequences you still haven't fully understood. It’s my fault Hajime from that future timeline was brought along-- I couldn't stop it," Kageyama walked towards Tooru, and the runes along his ribs suddenly glowed. The other peered at the light and moved without permission to lift his tunic. Kageyama smile.

"Hinata is always the sun of our group; he can move as fast as light, and he sees openings in the timelines when we often can't," Kageyama pressed his palm to the key and Tooru gasped as light filled his entire body. "This is a key as you might have known, with the Fauns you could open many magical doors and gates but it's more than that. You can use them to lock something away or put someone back together."

Tooru gasped again when the power subsided, and the white runes didn't glow anymore.

"But it comes with a price you should be willing to make when the time comes. I can't hold here paused anymore, Tanaka and I have to leave you," Kageyama peered up at Hajime strapped in chains, and then looked to the Necromancer.

"Two halves of the same whole, take the time to prepare. You already unknowingly helped Kuroo access his magic, the soul-gems aided but your presence with the Fauns is the greatest power you have right now," Kageyama flew with a release of feathers, Tanaka moved as well. His broad smile was discerning in the current environment. “Find the others, bring all you lost together and mend it.”

Everyone else remained frozen in place, and it gave Tooru a second to process.

The necromancer was a piece of Hajime-- HIS Hajime in a twisted and broken way that had always been searching to be whole and couldn't without destroying himself.

A curse-- the spell Tooru had performed had been one of a far greater scale than remembered or realized.

Tanaka flew with Kageyama towards the necromancer, an explosive portal appeared behind them, and they tackled him into it. With a resounding pop-- all three were gone. Time roared back to speed and left everyone looking around stupidly. Tooru had enough sense to dispel the ward around Hajime strapped up, racing over to sever the restraints. He wrapped telekinesis around his body to let him drift down slowly, Tooru met him on the ground.

Hajime actually glared.

"You hadn't been lying about this stupid shit," came the retort and Tooru deliriously laughed.

"I'm so sorry-- I don't think I realized how awful all this was until right this second,"

Hanamaki and Matsu galloped closer but slowed down when they realized Hajime’s state. Tooru waved for a healing potion, and Makki put one in his hand.

"Drink this," the blue liquid spilled a little but Hajime drank it without question, the magic healed most of his wounds, but left him very exhausted. His eyes closed, and Tooru wrapped him up in his arms to take advantage to be close.

"That's not our Iwaizumi," Kuroo said, and Tooru nodded. Kuroo knelt down to check on the shoulder wounds by peeling back the torn jersey fabric.

"I met him before when I was sent to the future," Tooru admitted, he saw the string now tinged with red linked around their fingers. It wasn't complete-- and he knew now why that was. Hajime was sleeping, a soft snore came out of his nose, and it was honestly the cutest thing Tooru had ever heard after such a hard few days.

"Where is the Necromancer?" Akaashi hooted, and Tooru met the Faun's gaze instead.

"You knew the Necromancer was Hajime," he accused over answering, and the two frowned at the confrontational tone.

"So we were right," Matsu admitted, though stress was evident along the tension in his shoulders, "we speculated after the Raven's got involved, we knew something had to be linked to everything happening. People were disappearing, you became the worse King in all of history! We joked around with you and we were ordered to stay by your side regardless of your shitty attitude. Especially after you forgot what happened; we were there and you pretended like we weren't welcome in the castle! Like we hadn't all be friends!"

Matsu's tone was aggressive as before, but Tooru was determined to listen over getting upset about it. He thought on that day better; it must have been too traumatic ever to access fully. His brain had replaced it with all he had wanted and wished had happened. An illusion-- a trick of his own mind to protect himself. Tooru felt weak minded, how stupid of him. The Fauns had been there; they had been yelling at him to stop from behind. Memories prick his conscious, remembering them all hanging out by the water, eating food in the kitchens and being friends.

Tears spilled over and struck Hajime's hair as he curled in and hugged the sleeping form.

"It had been too much-- the spell severed more than just the string. It shattered my memories; it split Hajime's soul-- it cursed all of us, everyone, who mattered,"

"Did they take him?" Makki asked, "the Raven's? Kageyama and Tanaka are gone."

Tooru shook his head, "they pushed him through a portal, I think they are granting us some time to prepare. I know in theory what we need to do, I just don't know how exactly."

"Do what?" Kuroo asked, the older male was rubbing his back to comfort him, and Tooru felt unworthy of such kindness. He cradled Hajime's cheek, closing his eyes to calm his tears.

"I have to reverse the spell; I have to put them back together--"

"Them? As in this Hajime and the Necromancer?" Bokoku was the one to say this, and Tooru opened his gaze to meet the entire group.

"The Shadow Necromancer isn't entirely Hajime-- it's a piece of his soul, but it's corrupted in illusion magic and darkness. It's taken on the darkest aspect of him. I'm sure we are all capable of such evil, but it's not his fault-- two souls can't exist in the same plane of existence, and yet they are. They want to be whole-- don't you see? He traveled to all those timelines because instinct drew him there-- but this curse, the darkness is too much when it infiltrates," Tooru sighed. "It's gotta be a spell to put them back together and it's gotta be me."

"Then let's build it," Kuroo said reassuringly. "This place used to be a castle filled with magical artifacts. The rooms we found were littered with books and other parts looked lived in by someone. I trust the Raven's are keeping the Necromancer distracted. Let's design it, test it somehow, figure out what we have to do to fix this together--"

The Fauns nodded, and the familiars as well.

"Okay--” Tooru sniffed, his head and heart throbbing. “But first-- we have to find everyone who should have been by my side. I was told fate wants it to return to its original state-- it's on our side. We have a Hajime-- we can locate everyone else.”

“You mean those who are missing from the Kingdom?” Kuroo said, and Tooru nodded.

“Yes-- I think there is an entire team of people I should have had by my side this entire time. This Hajime knows them-- he's played with them. When he wakes he will help us figure it out and also find Lev and Kenma. When the team is set-- when we are ready, I'll know what to do. I'm sure of it.”


	8. You are King, Choose the Right Path for Your People

Tooru's optimism could be wearing. He couldn’t entirely help himself, being positive and attempting to see the good or better option in a circumstance wasn’t black and white. It was that gray area he traveled to keep himself from getting upset or letting other negative emotions weight him down. It was a double edged sword; doubt could overpower his optimism in a crumbling reality as it was right now on the cusp of crashing down while he was tucked into bed next to Iwaizumi while he healed up.

Did he do enough today be thankful? To lie in bed without knowing the all the consequences and somehow find peace? Not knowing if more of his choices would cause deeper issues for the realm to face and still be content to slow down? Did Tooru do enough to damn himself to Hell in fate as horrible as Iwaizumi-- or was this to be a story of redemption overpowered by love? Would it be a happy ending?

Tears once again burned his eyes, yet he refused to allow them to fall by willpower alone. Reality could be cruel, his high from the battle crashed to a dizzying low with the potions working to heal all of Iwaizumi's body still broken in places from the kidnapping and blatant torture. Tooru wanted Iwa to hate him instead of holding him in the shared bed. To make him feel guilty until he shriveled up. He deserved worse from him– Iwa shouldn’t have been here to endure such wrath for something he had no control over. Pain throbbed in a chant in the very base of his skull, introducing a tremor to his lip.

"Stop thinking so much," the voice muffled against the dusty straw pillow. Iwaizumi's eyes were open though and glared thinly at him.

“I can’t,” Tooru whispered to the faded darkness brought in the room. A thick swallow had his Adam's apple rising and falling tightly. A very real sob was approaching to spill over and consume the mage into a complete breakdown that has been on the cusp of taking over since he performed the location spell in the Faun's home.

"There is a reason we are here together. Don't start crying again we will fix all of this," Iwa said confidently, and Tooru turned more to the side, tucking his hands under the pillow so he could stare back. "You said we were supposed to be together, and when we kissed back in my room--" Iwa smiled in pause to his words. Tooru continued to pay attention because he could not think about that right now. It was selfish, but his eyes darted to Iwaizumi's lips in want of said affection right away.

"It was honestly like a switch had made everything very clear to me. Like I have waited my entire life to meet you."

"How do you mean?" Tooru asked as shivers raked goosebumps down his forearms, and Iwaizumi shrugged, reaching under the pillow to thread his fingers with Tooru's. The warmth immediately had his heart thunder in his chest, and he knew Iwa felt it in the pulse of his hand because he smiled knowingly.

"Because-- I can't completely explain it. But now that I am here, in this time with you; I feel invincible. When I disappeared from that room, I thought I was being swept away into unconsciousness, but there was a cloaked person there in the shadows. None of you saw them, but I did," Iwaizumi quivered lightly, damping the edge of his bottom lip while he seemed to realign his memory.

"That door I spoke about, I saw it flash in front of my eyes and I some how knew I had to stop that person from touching you. I leaped out-- I don't know how I did, but I grabbed them-- but they got ahold of Kageyama, and the second they touched it all went black."

"I'm so sorry you went through that, but you saved everything by doing it," Tooru was awestruck at Iwaizumi's courage. "I think Kageyama knew it was going to happen-- that you needed to be here and allowed himself to be taken. The Raven's Lord followers are incredibly brave and knowing of a lot."

Iwaizumi seemed not to know if Kageyama had or not; his breathing maintained a relaxed stance between them. Still showing how courageous he was even in having this conversation. Tooru admired him thoroughly before, but right now he couldn't stop the fondness taking over his face.

Iwa continued. "I was strapped up when I stirred awake. I knew real fear then Tooru. But, I felt warm when you saw through my eyes, and you awakened something in me," Iwa squeezed the lean digits of his fingers in goodbye of their presence before sitting up. He held his head for a moment, rubbing the tension from his temple. Though the potions of healing were cleaning up most of his wounds, Tooru knew Iwaizumi would be exhausted from the use of them. Still, he was grateful he was able to sit up after only a few hours.

"Iwa-chan," Tooru whispered as he too sat up on the bed, and watched enthralled when Iwaizumi snapped his fingers and a formed a ball of water in the space between them.

"Your wielding magic!" Tooru exclaimed loudly and scrambled higher to sit on his shins, and Iwaizumi laughed with a confidence Tooru only remembered seeing long ago or from the shared memories when Iwa was the ace on his volleyball team.

"Not by choice, I think the Necromancer was putting it into me," Hajime said carefully, "they would bring people into the room and take this light from their mouths-- they knew me too, which scared me and seemed to infuriate that evil witch person."

"That Necromancer is my Hajime, or well-- what is left of him," Tooru frowned. Iwa reached out and held his hand again.

"When they saw you through my eyes, and I knew that you had traveled back as well; clearly I was roped up in this adventure as you had spoken about at my house. I didn't feel as scared anymore. I felt the magic better after I knew you were alive. It was when they were torturing Kageyama-- it was a rush of power, and with just a twitch of my hands I blasted them across the room with water," Iwaizumi clenched his fists, and peered over to Tooru who appeared like a little boy hearing a fascinating story. Iwa put his entire palm over Tooru's face and pushed him playfully away.

"Ahh, don't push me!" Tooru flailed, but he caught the redness on Hajime's ears. "This is unbelievable! I can't believe this is real!" Tooru felt energized, the want to cry and wallow in self-pity evaporated.

"When you left my conscious," Iwa reached out, and instead of palming Tooru's face he cradled the side of his cheek and the passion in his face had Tooru gasp at the suddenness of it. Hajime's eyes were an electric green right now, a swirl of magic a spark of power he remembered from before. Iwa leaned forward, and Tooru met him half way, brushing their lips together with a gentle chastised compression.

“I love you–” he mumbled unknowingly against Iwa's lips, lifting his chin to meet his gaze and grinned out of habit when they pulled away from the soft kiss. A boyish twitch reached his mouth while he ran the pads of his fingers across Hajime's jaw lazily.

"When you left my mind-- I promised myself, at that moment, I would be strong enough to be alive when you found me. I'm fearful, trust me Tooru-- I am a little over my head here. But whatever needs to happen to fix all this mess, I am going to do it with you, and it will work." Iwaizumi's declaration had Tooru's chest ache in inspiration, and he peered over to the door when a throat cleared seeing the Faun's lifting their thumbs up in agreeance.

\--

The plan for the following day was one of a simplistic design and complicated delivery. The castle they were in was indeed old and once housed magical people. Tomes of historical information were scattered about randomly as if abandoned and there were a few rooms that Tooru needed to break through mystic warding to even see inside them. It wasn't as large as Blue Mountain, but it did take most of the day to walk through and document what was needed.

The group stuck together, unsure if they were going to run into trouble. Illusion magic clung to some walls making them able to walk through to the shrouded doors like a house of tricks. Every entrance was examined for traps, and rooms combed through for valuable items they would need to survive their stay, or if it could be utilized for the spell, Tooru was still working on designing. They took their time to mark with chalk on the outside of each room with what was in there and moving most of the important objects into the main throne room for its fortification and a single entrance using Tooru's telekinesis and Kuroo's earth magic to make a slide out of vines.

Hanamaki worked on a map through out the day, detailing out the floors and taking other notes they might need. Tooru was thankful for the help without having to give direction, but there was a niggling issue that kept creeping up in the back of his mind. A protectiveness from being a failed King made him yearn to keep everyone safe, and knowing what Hajime went through; well what both Hajime's lived there was this selfish part of him that wanted to go at it alone.

All in all, it was a long day; night came with a weariness felt in the chambers.

"These places in this particular section of the eastern wing are the ones we need to break open tomorrow," Makki said while they were having a small dinner. They had little rations on them not prepared for this type of need without being able to pop into the city, but they had lucked out in the cove they appeared at with fishing. Iwaizumi had caught a lot for them; it was nostalgic for Tooru and Hajime seemed to enjoy himself greatly in supplying them with supper.

"We found several crystals that will work to channel a vibration of magic to aid in breaking apart these more difficult wards," Tooru suggested while bending forward to stick his nose close to the paper he was working above. He would never admit to needing reading glasses, even in this situation, but he honestly forgot to pack them. Kuroo nodded and pulled out a palm sized golden sharply pointed gem which glimmered in the torch lit room.

"This one, in particular, will honestly break any ward. It's powered with a decent sized soul, likely a human one-- but what's done is done, rest in peace and all that. We should save it for that dungeon door Iwaizumi stumbled on accident,"

"Hey--" Iwa pointed a fish head skewered on a wooden dowel in the direction of Kuroo who only smirked a devilishly smug grin back.

"You literally stumbled into it," Kuroo reminded, and the group chuckled at Iwaizumi's expense.

"That's because he tripped me on purpose because his attention's span is the same as in my timeline," Iwa growled out the words but didn't seem truly mad about anything while he took a few bites of food. Makki high-fived his partner when that mock glare met them both. He had tripped Iwaizumi, but it had been more to see if Tooru would dramatically try to catch the male and that proved to be a fail. Tooru had laughed hysterically instead which had made it all quite hilarious because the dungeon door sparked fireworks of magic in a warning which had scared Hajime to the point he scrambled behind Makki for protection.

It was a 'had to be there moment' that they all would never forget.

"Ok, leave Iwa-chan alone, we will need that crystal for sure on that door. I honestly think there is a chance there are people down there Kuroo," Tooru said with a concerned flicker upwards to his friend. "When we were investigating the complicated lining along the ward on that wall, I could get a read it was there because who ever was trapped inside had the power to break down anything less secure."

"Which means they are likely magical," Kuroo's eyes widened. "You think they are down there? Why didn't you say something earlier?"

"I didn't want to distract our progress as it will take time to break. That ward travels across all these points," Tooru pointed towards the map Matsu had near his leg, and they moved it closer to the center so everyone could see. "It's clearly a box design to ward from an exit in any direction, not just the door; we will see it better when we activate it. I worry though-- if we break it wrong-- it could place the people inside in a lot of danger."

Tooru pondered the design. He had always been intelligent enough for spell building; his neat handwriting scripted out the wand movement he thought he would need without a moment's rest. Hajime held out a piece of fish on the end of the wooden stick, and Tooru ate it without pause. He had to get this correct, and he knew there wasn't time to sit around for days on end and practice as they had at the Faun's home. Then again, he could justify taking all he needed until he was certain. But with not knowing if those people had rations with the Necromancer out of the picture temporarily, Tooru knew they needed to get in there within a few days time.

"You will break it perfectly," Matsu said surprisingly when everyone less Iwaizumi's jaw dropped open, "what? The King honestly built a spell that miss aligned the cosmos with his soulmate, he will break that door down just fine."

"Does this mean you aren't--" Tooru started, hearts in his eyes while he curled his hands near his face in excitement. Matsu put up a hand in a stopping motion.

"No-- I am still mad at you, but I'll get over it. You went through a lot too, and I can't ever stop looking at you as a friend even if you forgot so much." Matsu shrugged as if that had been harder to admit that he wanted to share in front of everyone, and Makki rubbed his hair with a soft huffed laugh with a dusting of a blush on his cheeks.

"Iwaizumi, you are taking this well," Kuroo had his palm rested under his jaw, elbow tucked on his knee while sitting cross legged. Tooru thought he looked anxious under the surface of his facade. He knew Kuroo wanted to find his friends, and the fact the warlock had been through a personal fight with the Necromancer and also thrust into this entire journey made Tooru grateful for his companionship.

"I don't mean to, for some reason, I feel very connected here like I am supposed to be here and not 'there' anymore," Tooru was sad suddenly at those words. The realization struck him like a lightning strike, and his soft gasp brought all their attentions to him.

"What is it?" Hajime asked, and Tooru sighed, sadly closing his eyes to let the obvious sink into his bones.

"I mean, it's so obvious now I just plowed ahead without letting myself think it through. If you are here, and if my theories about the Necromancer being a piece of your soul are correct, then it means without a doubt that my Iwaizumi is still-- well..."

"Oh--" everyone said at once.

Tooru hadn't taken the time to let that sink in. He had thought all along that his Hajime was alive still; that there would be this big moment of saving him and making their strings whole again with a kiss worthy of fireworks. But that wasn't what was to happen at all. All along he had been drawn to this particular Hajime, and though it felt right to have him by his side, there was still a pitted sadness that he wouldn't ever be able to properly say goodbye to the first and true love of his life.

Kuroo rubbed Tooru's back, and a quiet settled around them before Iwa stood up and grabbed for Tooru to follow him.

"Come on; let's go practice some magic to take a break from the spell building. Then we rest, all of us, so we can tackle that door," Iwaizumi was using his vice-captain voice, and it surprisingly worked. They all waved them off while the pair trekked to an empty room that had tall vaulted ceilings. The stonework here laid in generously sized gray stones, with an iron chandelier hanging in the center. There was nothing in here, only them.

Tooru snapped his fingers, and a bolt of lightning jumped as a spark up towards the old candles still perched in the iron fittings. The light came to life, and Tooru chuckled when Iwa was staring upward in awe.

"What did we use to do before?" Iwa asked, having changed into spare clothes Tooru had last night. He had to roll up the sleeves and pants because he wasn't as long limbed. But his muscles stretched the front out, forcing him to keep the ties loose around his neck. The hunter green hue of the tunic was doing wonders against his skin tone.

Tooru was sad. It was in the air, and he didn't even realize he was showcasing that for Hajime to see until he spoke again.

"Hey-- look, I'm really sorry you honestly won't see him again," Iwa said, his hands were ringing in and out of their hold as if the conversation was awkward and Tooru supposed it was strange. "If it makes you feel any better, I won't ever see my Tooru again either, not that I confessed to him, but he was my best friend. I won't have volleyball either which maybe if we win this final fight we can try to recreate."

"Probably not," Tooru said with a sad sort of smile, remembering the feel of the volleyball being something incredible and unlikely to find here in medieval times.

"Did you notice?" Iwa moved around the room, dragging his hand over the stone to cause a cascade of water to strike the floor.

"Notice?" Tooru asked, he moved his wand towards the water and wrapped a telekinesis bubble around the bottom, bending it upward into a high arch. Iwa was amazed again, but he responded.

"How red our string is right now?"

Tooru glanced down at his ring finger. He had grown immune to checking it, always seeing the frayed string in a haunting reminder. But there it was, not as golden less a streak like a scar through it. His entire body warmed at the visual, was it working? Were they going to fix it after all?

"Wait, you see it?" Tooru waved his hand about causing the wand motion to send the water splashing up on the ceiling in a high collision. Iwa didn't know what he was doing, but he managed with his hands to stop the water from getting them soaked through by holding them above their heads.

"I can, I told you-- it's weird, but I know things-- help me here Shittykawa I swear--" Hajime explained horribly, but Tooru might have understood more than Iwa knew. He remembered how his memories from the Tooru of the future life had blended and meshed with his own after taking over his body. He also knew it ran a high risk this Iwaizumi was dealing with echoes of similar memories being in his original body. It was confusing, but Tooru wondered if he hadn't entirely lost his Iwaizumi.

"Okay, focus on a sword,"

"A sword? You realize we don't wield things like that in my world," Iwa did it anyway, closing his eyes while his hands remained high above his head to pause the water mid fall. It started to take shape, the water coming together until a hilt of a sword materialized. Tooru struck it with a bit of electricity, the arcs forging solid lines up the sides and into the handle. The blade about as long as their arm dropped low enough for Iwa to reach up and grab it. Solid in his grasp but encased in water and light, held together by combined magic.

"Whoa," Hajime said as Tooru slid his foot back and enclosed his hands into a rapid circular motion. His grin was electric in its self, and Iwa took a few steps away as he realized what was about to happen.

"Are you about to serve at me!" Hajime awkwardly held the sword, and Tooru hummed the words needed to spin the ball of energy into something appearing solid.

"Don't throw that thing at me," Iwaizumi warned, situated with the weapon by his side, locating himself to the rear of the room. And the very second Tooru threw the ball of lightning was like he had been transported to the first training session together. Tooru knew his memories had been distorted after what he did, but he remembered this exact moment had happened before, and he had to see if it would play out.

Hajime lifted his free hand and deflected it with a shield of water; the impact sounded like thunder. The vibration a boom of energy as the water absorbed the light and crashed the water to the ground in an epic waterfall from Iwaizumi's hand. Tooru's excitement tenfold when Iwa didn't look mad but shocked into motivation.

"Back at you," Iwaizumi twisted the sword around and transformed it into an actual volleyball of water. Tooru regrettably squealed when the magic struck with Iwa's palm and connected on Tooru's side like a massive water balloon.

"You soaked me!" he screeched out in delight to the fun Hajime was having in practicing something new to him.

"You threw a lightning bolt at me!" Iwa conjured another and launched it at Tooru who was laughing hysterically at this point. Hajime struck Tooru over and over, and he allowed it to dramatically force him to the ground succumbing to holding his stomach giggling in delight.

"When was the last time we saw him laugh like this?" Akashi said from the corner of the room, and Bokoku nestled up to sit by his friend's side when Iwaizumi tackled him down to the ground and messed up his hair. Both of them cracking up in the room.

"You know when-- Bokoku hooted softly.

\--

Come morning, Tooru's heart hammered in his chest when it became apparent Iwaizumi wasn’t going to let go of his hand after they had shared a bed last night. They ran themselves exhausted from practice, both having to sit near the fire until their clothes dried. The tender, yet molding grip made him hyper aware when Kuroo was coming down the stairs to greet them, and the softest blush hit his cheeks. It was silly really, but he felt happy and confident in what was going to happen today.

Kuroo smiled a sleepy, lazy grin.

"I slept like shit," Kuroo declared almost proudly, and Iwaizumi chuckled patting their companion on the shoulder when they grouped up.

"I, unfortunately, have a coffee addiction and I am certain that doesn't even exist yet for you all. So I will suffer with you,"

"Coffee? What is that?" Tooru asked while they walked to the throne room.

"Heaven in a cup," Iwa waved towards Makki and Matsu who were helping each other groom through their fur. Droplets of water puddled under their hooves, and Tooru wondered if the two had taken a swim this morning.

"Morning, I have a request for you both," Tooru stated, stepping to the pair, which required to him having to break the hand enclosed with his while Iwaizumi and Kuroo started laying out some food.

"I want us to try to open a door like the closet in the pub, back to the Kingdom. We need an exit-- a fast one in case this all falls to hell. I also want more people on the other side ready for what might come through it if it's not us," Tooru unknowingly was standing suitably straighter as he was a King, his presence and confidence seemed to radiate through him this morning. His hands clasped gently behind his shoulders, and though he was in rags compared to the rich cloth, he felt more a King today than ever before. The Faun's picked up on it and stopped what they were doing to give him his full attention. Tooru worried his lip in concentration but made sure to keep the statement direct.

"I want to send you both through it,"

"You don't want us here?" Matsu's eyes widened to that, and Tooru knew lying wasn't going to help him right now, but he lightly shook his head.

"No, it's not that. I think-- with this key Hinata put on me. I can access the door with you on the other side but keep it hidden until we need it. I want to see if it will work, one of you will need to go first because if it doesn't work and it's a one time deal, then I at least need to know."

"Is this because of the prisoners?" Kuroo interrupted, and Tooru nodded.

"Absolutely. Some may want to fight with us, but I think it better to have a way to get them to the city, so they are safe. Hajime said the Necromancer was taking their magic and some people lost their lives to create soul gems to power his time travel... if they are scared I don't want them here."

"Okay, which door do you want to use?" Hanamaki asked.

"The main one, it's logically the best choice, and we can access it quickly no matter where we are in the castle. I want the fight to happen here because this room can house the spell I am working on,"

The Fauns walked towards the main door which was a gloriously massive object. It looked like back in the day it would have allowed the castle a lot of time to plan before being breached. Tooru stepped in the middle of the Fauns and closed his eyes.

"I don't know how it worked before," he admitted.

"That door was already established, this is brand new," Matsu said unsure himself. Tooru walked forward placing a crystal holding a soul gem on each corner along the floor. They pulsed in a vibrant burst of blue when they aligned. The tethered pieces of magic ran up the rim of the doorway. He rose from his kneeling position, taking out his wand.

“Apud–” he commanded carefully dragging his wand up from the crystal point on the left, and around the perimeter of the door to the right. It shimmered entirely now, a blue light brightening all the room before a glistened veil came into view hiding the wood altogether.

He grabbed the large handle housing a barred piece of timber across its center. The Faun's helped him lift it, and they settled the part on the ground behind them when Tooru opened the door. Sunshine poured into the hallway, and before them was the city, they all knew and loved. Still covered in smoke and concerns from the previous fight with the shadow creatures.

"Wow," everyone said at once.

"Okay, I'll go through," Matsu walked through it without any concern, and Tooru found himself holding a hand over his heart because of it.

"Don't get sappy, close it and open it back up," Makki chuckled, walking away from the door, so Tooru was there alone. It closed with a removal of the light, but when he placed his hand on the handle, closing his eyes to focus on Matsu on the other side, the light started to spill around the edges once again.

"It's going to work," Kuroo said breathlessly.

"Is this difficult?" Iwa asked clearly unsure.

"It's honestly unheard of," Kuroo found himself bending a knee down while he watched his King, and Iwaizumi folded his arms tightly across his chest while Tooru commanded the door to open and in poured the light once again; revealing the Faun with a wide grin.

"Yes!" Tooru turned to give a thumbs up to his other companions, and Bokoku hooted around the room in excitement.

"I'm feeling exceptionally powerful today," Tooru admitted when the door closed. He rung his hands and shook out the shock of numbness to them from wielding the magic just now.

"I think I can get that door open downstairs in the dungeon,"

"Right now?" Kuroo stood up, and Tooru clapped his hands causing sparks to fly between them. He wasn't truthful today. After spending so much time yesterday with everyone and not actually getting an ounce of sleep, he had stayed up all night finishing the spell he believed would force that corrupted piece of soul in the Necromancer to combine with Hajime. He didn't know exactly what would happen, but he knew one thing for sure that he wasn't going to tell anyone.

It was going to require a lot of power, and that came with only one choice no one would allow him to do.

"Absolutely, let's break that door down and save those people. Akashi-- Bokoku, please start marking the floor in here with where we need to draw the runes. You both know those designs better than anyone,"

The two owls nodded and struck off into a dive bomb to grab a bag of loose chalk.

The group left with some food in their hands that they munched on while they made their way to the dungeons. The scent of musk and mildew was overwhelming, but it was the discerning feeling of eyes on them that made the place feel like it was only an illusion. Tooru had explained to Iwa last night about the illusion magic he used to be able to wield, but likely couldn't because that piece was with the Necromancer. But it got him thinking that maybe this prison wasn't what it seemed to the naked eye.

Tooru stepped forward to the iron door, lifting his other hand towards Kuroo and Iwaizumi to cast a shield just in case something went wrong. The Fauns dropped the crystals along the wall while his eyes fluttered closed, pressing the tip of his wand against the iron. Each strand of magic appeared to connect with all the crystals, ricocheting through the floors and ceiling, mapping out the entire ward like a bright starry night sky. It sparkled like the stars, between the ropes of teal magic and Tooru concentrated on snapping all the lines like plucked piano wires.

The illusion vibrated like disturbed still water, and then it dropped. The entire wall and door disappeared entirely, revealing on the other side many faces; eyes wide in surprise to see through it.

The castle rumbled in response, an eerie resettling of the foundation while he focused on binding his magic to the crystals. This ward was set up to handle any attack to it, which meant these people likely had tried everything they contained magically to break out and still couldn't. So he instead focused on finding the space between the wards, stretching it like an overstuffed fishermen's net.

Tooru opened his eyes, brown bleeding into a matching teal of magic. He pushed forward on the door with his wand and forced it to the brink-- static charges flickered off his body now glowing in magical teal light. And the iridescent ward shattered like glass. The crystals on the floor turned to dust as their energy was used up in a blinding explosion of light and magic; Tooru dropped to his knees.

“Ok–” a voice stated breathlessly. “That was incredible King Oikawa.”

He peered up, and a younger male was standing with long blonde strands covering parts of his face a few feet away. His eyes were cat like, and with closer examination, Tooru saw points of ears protruding from his hair line.

"The King is here?" came another voice, and Tooru, who was still on his knees, saw a few people coming out of the shadows of the deep cellar room who had been hiding behind the stone pillars.

"It really is the Lightning King," another confirmed, and Tooru wished he could find his voice but he couldn't. Seeing all his subjects in various states of torture, and neglect had his chest aching in regrets to not taking their missing cases seriously back then. How long had they suffered? Some at least a year?

"Kenma?" Kuroo's voice had pointed ears notching over in that direction, and a look of surprise met his youthful face.

"Kuroo? How?" It took only a second, and Kenma leaped forward transforming into a sleek black cat with blonde strands still on his face and landed on Kuroo's chest. Tooru could hear their happy reunion, but he still couldn't bring himself to stand.

"Feeling guilty?" a male stepped forward, a hand on their hip and striking white hair. They all looked dirty and skinny; their rations must have been small.

"Yes," Tooru admitted.

"Stand up King Oikawa," he recognized him finally. Lev had been a knight of his Father's army, and he had been overpowered as well, even with magic hidden in his veins. He hadn't put it together that he knew this person, and just as so much-- he had lost memory to this face also raced forward. Tooru stood up slowly, and it was as if a hum of music was filling the room as everyone grew quiet.

"I will never let this happen again, who had magic?" a few people raised their hands, and Tooru sighed at how many appeared to have lost theirs to the Necromancer. Tooru refused to believe that, with a throb of energy, he situated his hands to press together, fingers forming a rune. With a pulse of magic with the presence of the Fauns, Tooru focused on all those who had raised their hands. His magic vibrated at a high frequency and rushed through the space like a violent lightning store. Some people screeched and ran to hide, but those who stayed still and believed in him were stung with the magic; and realized that he was restoring who he could. The teal light in his eyes shifted brighter to the point all around him hummed in energy.

"Tooru, stop you are doing too much," Kuroo rushed forward just as his knees again gave out and everyone was racing out of the room as the castle again rumbled in annoyance. Dropping various chunks of stone onto the ground around them.

"We don't have time to worry about me," Tooru pushed Kuroo away and ran down the hallway without realizing the state he was in. Teal magic bled down his arms like veins in marble, forming an armor of lightning to his forearms, and struck across his chest to encase him in energy.

"You look as you did before," Makki warned, and Tooru knew snapped his face in his direction and realized exactly what was happening. They were at the point of time that his Kingdom fell under attack. He remembered this swell of power from before, how he had shouted at the Fauns when he met them in the castle and how he had flown out the window to battle an entire army alone. It flashed behind his fluttering eyelids before they settled on Hajime who had his fists clenched and gaze steadily on his own as if it was taking everything in him not to shake some sense into him.

It was as planned. History and fate were carrying onward, his city would fall under siege, but this time he wouldn't be there to fight for them. But they wouldn't be alone, not this time.

"Come!" he ordered and ran up the hallway, everyone followed. They made it to the door, and Tooru threw it open with a swipe of his hand. Revealing the city in screams and terror, marching soldiers were breaking open doors, and it was exactly as it had been before.

"He's here,"

"Who?" Everyone asked.

"The Great Eagle," he turned to the group of mages and threw his hands out with the image of his city in peril behind him. "Break the wards, show the Kingdom of Shiratorizawa exactly who we are! Fight their people out of our home! Use any and all magic to keep the innocent safe. I believe in you--" the words sent a static shock through the room. As if Tooru had bound them all together in inspiration.

Everyone started filing through the door, the Fauns at the front making sure the door stayed open and Tooru stepped back. One at a time while everyone but Iwaizumi was in the room.

"Don't do it--" Hajime said.

"A King must fight the right battles; this is the conflict I should have been taking on all along. I trust my parents, and all my followers will grant me time to fix this for them. I was alone there before, but now the city has all of them."

Iwaizumi seemed to read him like an open book, and Tooru felt a pull from his hand that sent chills up his spine. He glanced up at the door to meet the Fauns who had their gaze locked on him.

"Protect them," Tooru waved his hand, and with a mighty force of telekinesis magic, everyone was thrown through the door closing it with a resounding slam.

"Tooru," Hajime's tone was worried, and Tooru turned to look at him. "You look like a King right now."

"I am a King," the words were on repeat, ones spoke to each other long ago before he had cut their ties.

"Not to me," Iwa said, and Tooru's eyes watered up.

"How do you know what he said to me?" his lip quivered, and Hajime didn't appear to realize it had been. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around his shoulders, burrowing his face into the nook of his neck. Hajime's arms bound tightly around his waist as the light coming off Tooru surrounded them both like a static ball of lightning.

"How touching," the words echoed in the throne room, and they pulled apart to glance around the shadows created from Tooru.

"This won't end how you think it will--"


	9. Save the Kingdom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: blood, wounds/mild gore, death

Back, long ago when Prince Oikawa's biggest worry was which color robe to wear, he used to fiddle with his appearance with detailed scrutiny. Taking hours to style his hair, choose the perfect fabrics to accentuate his skin and bring out his eyes. There was a reason why he didn't often visit the city, and why he decided to keep his travel to a minimum.

He never admitted it out loud often, but he hated how dirty the commoners were just because they had to work with their hands. It wasn't unknown to himself that it was petty, the view point just couldn't be changed. When subjects wanted to wave at him or shake his hand, there was a hesitation to allow it to happen at all, always glancing down at the grime and dirt under their nails and knowing they wanted to brush it against clean palms.

Tooru's parents always left the castle. They traveled often and were involved with more than he ever cared to know about. Maybe it was the young side of him allowing negative thoughts to surface with ease, or to let the pompous and self-righteous teenager to humor ruling a Kingdom from the safety of his walls.

Hajime had messed all that up.

He was always dirty, smelling like the farm and impossibly strong-willed and physically attractive. Tooru had been jealous and confused over Hajime having magic, but it had also been because Hajime had already seemed so perfect. He was happy not having a castle, in working hard and living a simple life. It infuriated Tooru constantly, but it also made him laugh, and smile. Hajime had a way to see through his fake smiles and the walls he held up to keep himself safe from the outside world he might have been intimidated by all along.

Tooru was exceptionally gifted. Not a lot of people understood just how much because of the secrecy binding him to keep it from view. His parents had warned him that he was powerful-- that he could wield magic unheard of. He might not have ruled with his magic as the focus, but his ignorance and selfishness blinded him from how much he was using his power to keep his city growing towards a path of war.

Something Hajime had told him and pointed out long ago was that Tooru contained the greatest gift. He had a good heart. A pure, vibrant and honest soul. And regardless of the power Tooru could wield, Hajime had reassured he'd never do harm to others on purpose. That it was in his power to be good even without magic.

Maybe that had been what had made him so angry. It had exposed his deepest fear-- that Tooru Oikawa hated himself. His self-loathing couldn't embrace such kind words. Hajime believed in him back then, and all he could focus on was that he could have power and forget them. Severing Fate had been exceptional magic, and it had been catastrophic to the point the Raven Lord had to intervene when the timeline was affected.

Tooru gritted his teeth as the present world narrowed on the three of them. If his pride and fears hadn't gotten in the way, none of this would have happened. But he understood it now. There weren't regrets so much as acceptance, and it was all becoming clear that he had been given time as a gift, and there would be an ending to this redo very soon.

"This won't end how you think it will--" the necromancer had their hood pulled up once more hiding the face he knew was under it.

"You are mistaken," Tooru responded. "I never let myself feel the exact extent of my powers. How much magic I can honestly wield without losing control. How I can be fueled by those around me to greater lengths because they care about me. Before I was alone and it was a mistake."

That drew out a surprised inhale from the necromancer, and Tooru took that as a minor victory. He cut his palm with the tip of his wand while the room sunk into shadows around the throne room, making the walls disappear from view as a cage of darkness. Tooru wished he could say he was sorry to the Hajime he lost. It was there on the tip of his tongue, wanting to grab the front robes of the necromancer and beg for forgiveness. Tooru knew it wasn't worth it-- because this wasn't Hajime in any way. They wore his face, and it was a fragmented piece of his soul that was the darkest and most corrupted part of the man he once loved. But it wasn't him.

A rune painted on his palm, the blood hot and fueling the teal hue to his eyes and light that arced in electricity down his forearms to ground out against the floor. Tooru inhaled sharply as the magic seemed to pull power from his own soul, muttering the charm he needed to perform the spell.

“Protego maxium–” Tooru flipped his hand to slam it together, an eruption of blue light shot out from the contact creating a dome around them in the room. The force of the ward had both him and Hajime sliding back a few steps. Hajime pulled him more to his side, noticing the tremor to Hajime's fingers while they both looked at the other now trapped with them. A crooked smile etched proudly on Tooru's lips as the necromancer turned slowly to regard them.

“Are you so foolish?” He was asked immediately as the sorcerer tried to teleport out of the dome with a collision of shadows only to meet the barrier. Tooru's hands were shaking from the pain of the carved wound, but he dipped his wand into the bleeding line and painted another bloody rune on his wrist, wand still pointed forward. Feeling a charge of power that had teal magic snake its way around the pair.

“I am the King of Blue Castle!” and with a crackled shift in the air. Electricity arched all over the dome, "and I am not alone anymore. I will save you."

“NO!” he turned at the necromancer's booming voice when the hood blew backward, the sorcerer not looking worried. Only furious. A darkness plunged from them, spilled ink. Threatening to consume the entire dome into a pitch over surrounding it. The world inside their dome blackened to the point he couldn’t see anything– but Hajime grasped the last of the light in the very palm of Tooru's bleeding hand. Throwing the orb towards the ceiling, Tooru wordlessly cast an explosion spell causing the globe to overheat and explode into a thousand glowing shards.

"Get yourself ready," Hajime was gone then, and though the dome was still filled with darkness, he could make out the shape of Hajime physically tackling the Necromancer to the ground. The scuffle and shouting were disorienting, and he honestly couldn't believe that Hajime had taken such a physical route.

Tooru closed his eyes, pulling magic into his body, forcing it to mesh and combine with his dark magic to the point he started convulsing from the intensity of it. Lightning arced off his skin, dispelling the shadows with every cracked snap of light. Tooru was like the sun in the night sky, and he released the energy like a whip– light returning to fill all the dome in a burst of pixie as the ring of magic collided into the necromancer sending them slamming into the ward. Tooru staggered from the intensity of the spell but had his wand still pointed in their direction. Hajime's knuckles blossomed in red-- and Tooru instantly thought 'how barbaric' but there was this tinge of a blush on his cheeks that future Hajime had fist-fought a dangerous warlock.

The necromancer slipped their gray hands into the folds of their cloak and threw daggers instantly. The summoned weapons transformed mid-air, hooked in carved black obsidian. Dozens flew out towards the pair, and Hajime instinctively put up his palm where the water shield he had just learned to create stopped three from striking him. Tooru pointed his wand and flicked to send most of them into a different direction, but three cut into him. A bloody open line across his left arm, one over his cheekbone, and the other having hooked right through his lifted hand to disable the rune. Tooru screamed at the contact, but before he could look towards Hajime, the necromancer had his hands on his shirt. The rank, dusty decay of his breath struck Tooru's face.

“Eagla,” they spoke in a dark tone, pressing their hands on either side of Tooru's face. Squeezing it as a blue mist penetrated his head. Tooru shoved at their chest to scramble out of the hold as a fear spell seeped into the subconscious slowly. It was sticky like it was connecting to every nerve in that part of his brain. He was screaming without knowing it, and he stumbled back to pull at their hair. Startling the space with an anguished cry as the spell activated to its full extreme.

"Tooru!" Hajime blasted the necromancer away from him with a violent turret of water, strong hands had grabbed his tunic and were dragging him back. Falling to the floor he tried to get up, but he was coughing up blood, it bubbled past his lips. Staining and coating the floor. The pain made him curl forward, eyesight blackening all around him for a second until clarity surfaced to see a familiar face.

"You're alive," Tooru said at seeing Hajime. His mind was confusing the space, warping the room into illusions of his past and echoes of memories that haunted him.

"How do I break this spell? Snap out of it-- Please," Hajime surprisingly angrily kissed his cheek but left his side, the sword of water materialized in his hand. Words were being exchanged between the cloaked figure and his soulmate, but Tooru's world was filled with whispers, and images like ghosts were walking around the space there only to frighten him.

He knew it was a spell. He could feel the magic battling with his own, but he couldn't shake the fear the spell was drawing out of his deepest and well-guarded boxes.

Memories of him smiling and laughing by the water invaded his head. Experiencing his hands dirty from the dirt as Hajime showed him how to plant a seedling. All those happy moments with his soulmate had been placed into the furthest recesses of his mind because he did fear them-- as they were a life that should have been easy and embraced but caused turmoil and fear in the young prince back then.

Love was terrifying.

Tooru could sense the cold ground above understanding anything else, it penetrated the dampness on his bloodied clothes making him shiver in response. When his eyes cracked open, an onslaught of scents attacked his senses. Musk, blood, and mildew– dampness pressing to fill all his lungs. All around him echoed like he was underwater, strange noises of overburdened wood creaking, and shouting. He looked upward past all the ghosts of his past and saw the warding along the ceiling in electric hues of teals and whites against his magical eyes. That was his spell, and it became crystal clear in only seconds.

“Ah–” he startled himself, his stomach tightening in a jolt of pain that had him curling forward. The spells effects broke the tiny blood vessels in his eyes, making the brown of his iris’ explode in a rare richness of color. He pressed his palms to his eyes, willing the world that was bleeding into a hazy filter back to normal. Tooru didn’t have a way to counter the spell without finding an alchemy table– and the idea of not knowing what he was under worried him more than the entrapment. Because something was wrong. His heart– pounded feral under the surface of his chest. Heat licked up his neck. Anger crowded to snuff out the light he held like a torch bright in personality.

"What did you do," he pulled the dagger from his hand, screaming out as Hajime's body flew backward and struck the ward with a crack of his back. Tooru's eyes widened, but Hajime got back up with a dark, frustrated expression on his face.

"You feel the pain I have lived with since you severed us and shattered me," the necromancer replied. So that was what it was. Tooru's pain ached not just from the terrible wounds and memories, but of the reality of their suffering. The fear spell induced what he was scared of the most, but it was letting him experience the torment the necromancer had lived with all this time. Never feeling whole, searching for something unobtainable, trapped in limbo.

Hajime was shaking in anger, and Tooru wanted to calm him down. He tried to get up, though the room tilted sideways. He noticed the deep gashes on Hajime's arms and what looked like water was dripping from his clothes. Blue magic was cracking through every line. Tooru knew this Hajime from the future never felt magic before, but it didn't seem like the other noticed the power shifting around them in their anger.

"Hajime--," Tooru's word was tight, his hand was bleeding horribly, and the blood loss was making his head dizzy.

"I will fight with everything I have, stay focused," Hajime tilted his head towards him and smiled, and the soft gesture in the middle of a fight like this was disorienting and frighteningly beautiful.

"Hajime--" repeated Tooru, but he remained still on the ground, watching with a fearful detachment when Hajime attacked again. A rage he felt in kind, pulsed profoundly under all his skin, attempting to match what Hajime was suddenly unleashing on the sorcerer. He was wielding a sword of water, striking it without skill but the power he could only equate to his inner strength and love. Blood dripped down Tooru's nose, his insides trembled and it clenched in pain and yet he remained in awestruck to the beauty of seeing the brutality from his soulmate fighting for him.

Hajime had promised he never stopped loving him. It had been Tooru who had shoved his love away, had made it impossible for them to ever feel it again. And right now it was all he could feel, pulsing like a firefly of warmth and shared love.

Angered snarls filled all the room in frustration from them both. Water came off like sparks of light to splatter the ground in a slick dampness. Tooru couldn’t find the will to move. To only watch as he summoned the strength to access the magic he would need for the main spell. While they were distracted his bloody fingers activated the runes Akashi and Bokoku had drawn for him on the floor, they shone in the softest blue light, racing around their shapes to pulse in magical activation.

Tooru found it captivating Hajime was fighting with such passion, equally making him ache to taste just a little of that raw energy. Did Hajime feel their connection, because the tug on his finger had his eyes noticing the blood red of the string was the strongest he's ever seen it? Tooru couldn’t help but be enamored by the intensity in this deliverance. Even as Hajime screamed when magic cut a line into his face, he still managed to slide a dagger into the necromancers ribs as if had trained his entire life to battle, someone.

The Sorcerer staggered back and dropped to their knees with a burst of blue magic, smoke spread across all the floor as if they were having trouble maintaining their physical form.

Tooru pulled out a soul gem and carefully set it against the rune on the floor. The blood from his palm seeped into the crystal and shifted it into a dark red, and it began to melt, seeping down like a weeping candle until it congealed into the stone. It’s pulsed power created veins of red energy up his arm like fissions of cracked volcanic stone. Tooru held on– desperate to keep control. To make sure this all worked as promised and declared.

"You can't fix it--" Tooru glanced up at the words as the Necromancer's hood was still down, and the face was Hajime's though gray and breaking apart in smokey bits of skin. They were holding their side from the wound.

"Offering ex Aquarius servulus monstra," Tooru began to chant in Latin first. "Offering from the caster..."

"Do it Tooru," the real Hajime was encouraging him. Standing right by the necromancers side holding the water blade at their neck as if he knew he had to be, and seeing their two faces in a mirror was making Tooru's head reeling. The fear spell on him was still distorting the space with ghosts, many faces took form in these apparitions like limbo had been struck open in a veil, and they were far from alone. He saw his parents and Kuroo with the Fauns. He saw the battle he had fought the first time, fighting by himself all night in the sky only to die on the throne room floor be replaced with all the people they had saved from the dungeon, Lev at the front of said fight with a black cat on his shoulders. And it was then that this room's Mirage changed and the illusion of the space seemed to take the form of Blue Castles throne room instead.

Tooru summoned all the magic within himself with one deep, resonating inhale. All the runes given by Hinata along his side cut open at once. The key unlocked with a sudden clarity to the power he was wielding. The energy swelled up in him like a sweet alluring drug. Black and red tentacles of magic carved terrible wounds into his skin, up the side of his neck in mock of an internal infection of shadow magic. His beautiful eyes shifted into darkness, pitted black as if he was a demon. Dark magic swirled around him like a storm, causing strikes of electricity to hit the floor. The string of fate wrapped around both Hajime's.

"Using the altum urgent symbolismum nostra fata. Uti key aperire hoc ostium abicitis victimam meam. Aperi perceptione mando," Tooru slammed his palm to the rune, and the ground exploded skyward in power. A painful scream tore out instantly. Blood seeped through his tunic shirt, splattered in gory detail to his given sacrifice.

"I command these powers to open the door! Open the door! Open the door!"

The door materialized from the center of the room, etching like someone was drawing it with a brush dipped in black magic. Each design carefully emerged until its arched shape became a solid reality. There was no door within the arc but a glowing veil.

"That's the door!" Hajime from the future's voice was pitched in surprise. Tooru hadn't realized this had been the door he had spoken about when they had been to the future, that Hajime had seen him summoning this particular object before he knew how to design the spell. Hope permeated him. Fate had wanted to be put back to balance, and was this proof that it was supposed to work out? That he could fix this-- was already written? Maybe the Raven Lord knew all this would transpire and it had been the only reason he had been spared to fix it.

The wound from the key of runes on his ribs greatly soaked his side. The blood loss was getting to him. But Tooru needed his offering to be enough, so he channeled the blood magic until an electric arc transformed into a magical lasso, plunging through the arc way whose center seemed draped by a veil of silver. It wrapped around both the necromancer and Hajime like cattle and Tooru held his hand out from the other side and realized in that very moment that he wasn't going to make it.

His vision blackened until only the door remained in his vision, with a tug he yanked both of them through the veil.

"King Oikawa!" The Fauns slammed into the ward where it shattered from the impact and broken a part. Tooru watched as only one Hajime stepped through the door, taking only four steps until their knees collided to the ground. Their string was the only red he noticed, beyond the lights dimming to an impossible darkness. He felt someone shake him and his head lulled back in dead weight as the room was filled with more people than he's ever imagined.

"Am I home?" he asked, and the more he looked skyward he realized that they were, that it wasn't in his imagination they were in Blue Castle, and this was the exact spot he had died before. Bitterness swept him, but he had to ask. "Did I do it?"

Makki nodded, holding Tooru up so someone could tear off his shirt to wrap his side and hand.

Closing his eyes, time enjoyed to slow down for the dramatics. Tooru knew it was milliseconds that passed, not the minutes where he had enough time to catch onto the reality of what was about to happen. To think about all the promises he never made because he had been so selfish, and how they would never be fulfilled from his old ignorance. He mourned for his friends and family within a blink of time, feeling anguish fill him for the moment before he accepted his fate.

He had known the risks. Knew not be coming back was part of the plan. All things great with magic; they come with a price.

His body crumbled like a clipped marionette within Makki's arms, and someone was shaking him desperately and when he cracked his eyes all in his vision was Hajime.

"Don't leave me!" were the words and they sounded different, like someone he knew long ago.

"We won! We won the fight, everyone is safe-- the Great Eagle was defeated! You can't just leave! You have a Kingdom to run--" the hands on his chest were pressing against him as if such a motion could rattle more life into him, and Tooru found a strange peace in hearing that they had won all around. Hajime was back whole, the city wasn't under attack. He wished he could have seen the power of them all working together the first time around.

"Speak please?" those words were whispered brokenly into his ear, feeling the softest trickle of dampness strike his cheek and fall down to his collarbone. But he couldn't find the strength to form any words, his eyes dulled but not enough to miss seeing everyone staring down at him in worry. Everyone who he had once pushed aside, those who he had shunned for being beneath him, and they were free now his tyranny, from his mistakes.

"You fixed it. The string, Tooru its back, I can see it. The future is forever changed, and it's me. Hajime-- your..."

Tooru's eyes narrowed on the face that had pulled back to look at him again and realized that it was his Hajime. Was he delirious? He could feel lowered on the ground, his Mother was casting spells to his wounds in an attempt to seal them, but he could only look at the Hajime he hadn't seen in so long. Tears welled up in his eyes, and they fell quickly down without any delay.

"Don't cry, you messed up but it's better now. You saved everyone, this war was bound to happen-- and you united the Kingdom so we won,"

"I'm sorry," was all he could barely say, there was more to his apology he wanted to get out, but it was all he was capable of saying. Hajime's eyes widened and then his brows furrowed in that concerning anger.

"Say something else, please don't--" Hajime wouldn't say it, but Tooru knew he was going to say 'please don't let those be his last words.'

He swallowed thickly. Wishing one or two words could form on his tongue, but it felt impossible. He closed his eyes, willing them to come out.

"I love you then-- _forever_ , find me in another life," a soft sigh allowed his lips to smile into the hair of his soulmate who tackled him into another hug before a rattling exhale followed, and a chill had his chest aching to lift for another breath.

 

Tooru died on the throne room floor where he had before, though not alone this time, but surrounded by love and loyalty. The red string bound permanently to their fingers. Their futures and all their many lives forever changed for the better.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> : ( 
> 
> This was so hard to write, and I listened to anime mixes on youtube with sad music when I wrote the end and cried. But there is going to be an epilogue that will be from our canon volleyball dorks pov and I will balance this all with some fluffy iwaoi being together in that new future.


	10. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Closing to Severed Fate. We are back to the future! See our boys together : )

"How do I look?" Tooru tossed his hands out to either side, before spinning in a circle. He had spent all month working on this costume; it was an oversized navy cape with lightning bolts painted up the bottom edge. He had a sizeable magical staff in his left hand that had a sapphire gem glued on the top, but it was the hat that drew Iwaizumi to smile back. The floppy and quite significant addition made Tooru's head look small and paired with the oversized cape, Tooru seemed a little ridiculous in the best of ways.

Iwa nodded from the kitchen counter as if to agree it looked as impressive as Tooru believed.

"You look like a dorky wizard straight out of those fantasy books," Iwaizumi laughed right after he said it, and Tooru's huff was met with strides forward from his boyfriend. Hands clasped on his cheeks, Iwa squishing them to force Tooru's lips into a fishy expression.

"So cute--" Iwa grinned, "is that glitter too? And you swore to me two years ago that you weren't about the glitter-life." He leaned forward and kissed the forced puckered lips, stilling Tooru from further words. His fingers released Tooru's cheeks, rubbing the now pinked skin caught in a blush and looked at the happy expression on his partners face.

"Wizards need glitter Iwa-chan, are you going to put yours on? We are going to be late," Iwaizumi nodded, walking over to their bedroom. A pair of jean overalls and dark green plaid flannel resided on the nightstand, and he couldn't help but know he was about to look just as ridiculous as Tooru.

"Farmer Iwa-chan! Yeah!" Tooru looked elated the moment Iwaizumi started getting dress, pulling on a pair of sturdy hiking boots and a straw hat that Tooru had insisted finish the costume.

"We should have tried to match or something, this is a little silly," Iwaizumi tucked the hat on around his soft strands of hair, forgoing any product tonight, so the spikes didn't get caught in the straw. His muscles were cradled tightly in the fannel he was certain Tooru bought a size too small for that very selfish reason.

"A farmer and a wizard, wow-- what gave you the idea anyway?" he asked carefully.

Tooru paused, a thin finger tapping his cheek while his hip jutted out in pretend thinking.

"I don't know!" Tooru shrugged before skipping into the room to pull Iwaizumi's hands out the door. "Just, came to me I guess since I am perfect at making these decisions."

Iwaizumi let himself be dragged out the door, and they made it through the college dorms towards where the common area was already pounding a low base of music. It smelled like cotton candy and caramel, and Iwaizumi hummed in appreciative ways when the hallway came into spooky view. The decorations were spot on, creepy with holographic hands that looked like they were reaching for them while they walked down. Spider webs clung to every surface, low enough to catch along both their hats much to Tooru not liking that at all and made a point to cradle his hat to his chest, so nothing else touched it.

Iwaizumi saw either Hanamaki or Matsu hiding just behind a fake cardboard coffin a few steps ahead.

"Tooru," he nodded towards the hooves poking out, and Tooru's eyes widened in instant mischief.

"Let's get 'em," Tooru whispered, sliding close to the wall so they could inch their way forward. They got two steps in when Makki came up behind them both, ticking their sides and screaming 'boo!' in their ears. Iwaizumi almost punched him, but luckily Tooru had literally jumped into his arms which was so unexpected they all fell to the ground taking Hanamaki with them.

"Wow-- nice save," Matsu laughed in his glass while he pulled himself from the wall and hiding spot near the coffin. Iwaizumi helped Tooru and Makki up.

"Collateral scare damage well worth Tooru's face, and near punch to the nose," Hanamaki chuckled once up, rubbing the back of his head which brought attention to the two horns residing on the front of his crown. The memesquad were in matching outfits, different colors, but both wearing shaggy pants to make it look like they had hooves. Iwaizumi was a little shocked if he was honest.

"Are you a Faun?!" Tooru burst out laughing. "A little lamb! Look at you--"

"Oy! Not the horns, only other Faun can touch another Faun's horns bro--"

They all laughed except Iwaizumi.

"Gross, I don't want in on those really weird kinks with you both," Tooru pouted playfully. Iwaizumi wrapped an arm around Tooru, and they all walked into the party in the common area. There were a lot of people here, some they knew from their High School days, but the four were content with settling on a couch after taking an entire bowl of cheddar popcorn and candied apples for themselves to munch on.

Iwaizumi was struck with a wave of deja vu while they were all chatting. Maybe it was the wall decorations that made the room look like a dungeon in a castle or that ridiculously silly hat on Tooru that kept sliding his bangs into his eyes and every single time he fixed it be sheepishly made eye contact with him. The small connection served to make his skin feel electrocuted and captivated in his boyfriend. He could never explain how much he loved him, he tried to explain it, put to some semblance of words and sentences to capture it, but every time he was let in awe in these simple moments.

It felt as if the world was revolving around them, this focal point being their clasped hands and that smile which certainly meant trouble but he loved impossibly.

"You are staring, like what you see?" Tooru nudged Iwaizumi, and obnoxious two snorts from their friends brought him to blink a few times to clear his head.

"Eww, you both can be really cute sometimes," Makki bit into an apple. "I might have to scare you both again and risk a punch from muscle man just to clear my head from this cuteness."

Tooru grinned and quickly turned his entire body into a deadly spring to tackled Makki into the couch where his fingers promptly raked up his friend's ribs making him shriek for mercy. They were adults by definition but would always be kids at heart. Iwaizumi worried his lip gently running the edge of his teeth to the plush surface. This was all too weird and was bringing up old memories he wasn't sure he wanted to remember.

The party ended up being more fun then Iwaizumi had ever remembered going too while at college. This was their third year, and now that most of their classes were filled with their major over electives it was honestly easier to relax working on the things they loved. Their walk back to their own dorm was quiet, hand in hand, pranksters were tossing toilet paper into some of the trees before the cops chimed their sirens to dispell the mischief makers. Tooru was laughing at their expense, and Iwaizumi, he realized, couldn't be happier.

"Tooru," he stopped and squeezed the strong, lean fingers wrapped in his own.

"Hmm," Tooru smiled and waited, removing his hands to instead rest his forearms over Iwaizumi's shoulders to take advantage of their height difference. He was still so strong, lean in the right places but adulthood did wonders for Tooru, jaw sharper to enhance the white sheen of his teeth when he grinned. Iwaizumi wrapped his hands around his hips and pulled him forward, brushing his mouth to the chilled edge of his lips until they parted and let him kiss him deeply.

Iwaizumi never told Tooru of what happened in High School. Of the scars, he has on his body that he never had a good story to explain. How he's scared of lightning storms and sometimes when the dark creeps up on him he occasionally saw himself in the darkness. Wearing a black hood and coming for him. Iwaizumi never told anyone how he had gotten swept up in time and witnessed proof that their souls were eternal and supposed to be woven together.

Iwaizumi wished he could explain how he had fallen in love with a prince, who had all the wrong ideas and had eventually saved them from himself. How he missed his magic, the feeling of controlling water and combining it with a weapon. A real fairytale come to life, and yet Iwaizumi sometimes wished he still could. Those memories were faded, like a dream that he had long, long, ago and as if the magic and timelines were desperately trying to close the gaps and to seal away what happened-- but to him, it had been all too real.

"Will you marry me?" Iwaizumi asked shakily.

"Iwa-chan, we are only twenty-one!" Tooru was blushing, and Iwaizumi knew he was thoroughly embarrassed. He might have gotten swept up in the night staring at Tooru, wondering what it would even be like not having him here like this if he hadn't helped correct their severed fate. His heart was suddenly pounding ridiculously fast.

"We can wait, until after school, but I still want to ask," Iwaizumi swallowed thickly, threading his fingers up to the nape of Tooru's neck.

"You are asking me such an important question while I am dressed up like a 'dorky wizard' and you as a farmer? On Halloween? Iwa you are--"

"Desperately in love with you?" Iwaizumi suggested, and Tooru sighed, resting his forehead to his own.

"Of course you are, I am amazing. Who else would you want? You have always had me," Tooru smiled, though they were close enough to feel their breath swirl against the chilled air of October, they both felt like the moment was perfect.

"I feel like, I have been waiting forever for this, and now I just want it," Iwaizumi admitted.

"Maybe in every life you propose in the strangest situations. Nothing planned, just spontaneous," Tooru snorted a little and wrapped Iwaizumi up in a hug. It anchored him immediately.

"If that means we are together, forever-- in every possible way then..."

"You are too soft Iwa-chan!" Tooru whined playfully but started kissing his cheeks in frantic little smooches. "Where is my battle-worn knight in shiny armor, coming to save his prince from his castle?"

"I already did that," Iwaizumi confessed.

"You are weird," Tooru smooched his nose, but hovered close, keeping their chest touching. "But yes, I'll marry you. I want a big wedding though, I want everyone there-- ."

Iwaizumi felt his heart constrict and tighten in excitement and adrenaline while Tooru chatted for another three minutes. But they his partner tilted his head to the side, batting long lashes and that silly hat was sliding down until he had the rim almost blocking his eyebrows. Iwaizumi's eyes were on the red string wrapped around them, tangled gently but unobtrusive, tied against their ring fingers. It was just a flash, an acknowledgment it was there like fate was just proving a point-- that they had indeed fixed everything. Then it faded out of view, and yet the line burned into his retina.

They really had done it.

"I said yes, aren't you going to kiss me now?" Tooru was smiling so beautifully, and Iwaizumi could see the happiness pouring out of him. What was left but to say...

"Absolutely,"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oy, oy, oy-- I did it. Finally wrote a fantasy fic lol
> 
> This was one of the most challenging fanfics I have ever written haha. I am so glad future!hajime got his Tooru though :) Also, as this is part of a gift exchange for the Haikyuu Fantasy Exchange-- I hope you enjoyed it!! Cheers, Cas


End file.
